Louisiana has executed its first death row inmate in 15 years. Jesse Hoffman was executed yesterday evening by nitrogen hypoxia after the state and U.S. supreme courts declined to intervene. Outside the state penitentiary in Angola yesterday, a group of death penalty opponents held vigil. Hoffman was sentenced to death for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Molly Elliott in 1996. Elliott’s sister-in-law spoke out against executing Hoffman, but Attorney General Liz Murrill said other relatives did not feel the same way.
Cut 5 (07) “…to have finality.”
Corrections Chief of Operations Seth Smith, who was a longtime nurse, says he did not see Hoffman suffer in pain during the execution.
Cut 7 (12) “…inconsistent with death.”
There are now 55 inmates on death row in Louisiana, and Attorney General Murrill says executions using nitrogen hypoxia will continue.
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Today’s a big day for McNeese basketball at they face Clemson in the first round of the Men’s NCAA Tournament. The Cowboys are in the Big Dance for a second straight year, a first in program history. Athletics Director Heath Schroyer says the gamble he took on former LSU coach Will Wade is obviously paying off earning McNeese some very valuable national exposure.
Cut 15 (10) “…uptick in enrollment.”
A state audit finds that prenatal care for Medicaid recipients in Louisiana is going in the wrong direction as a quarter of pregnant women in Louisiana did not receive care in their first trimester of pregnancy. Chris Magee, the data analytics manager at the Legislative Auditor’s Office, says what’s frustrating is that this report comes as the state is spenis that it comes amid the state spending 400-million dollars on maternal health reforms.