Part One | The Executions Commence: Jessie Hoffman

0:15 I walk the street line. Shackle change, Oh someome girdie, it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice as the huge. Stream game Rango three. Come here be by me to die inside these walls, inside the wild hadn't went no girls as I.

1:31 Hey everyone, welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast one and forty two years in the making, the complete story of America's Bloodiest President. I'm Jim Chapman, and today I'm starting a series titled the Executions, Comments and what has brought this series on. We've discussed in the past on this podcast that when Governor Jeff Landry was elected, one of the things that he pledged to do was hold days again dountible that were sentenced to capital punishment in the state of Louisiana. And it appears that the pledge is being seen through as death warrens have been signed for several individuals locked up in Bloody Angola and sentenced to death. Now, what I'm going to do with this series is I'm going to cover the crime, conviction and the date of execution for each of these individuals. And our first subject is Jesse Hoffman, whose death Warren has been signed and his date of execution set for March eighteenth.

2:37 Just really right around the corner now, we're going to start off in November twenty seventh of nineteen ninety six, and a couple in New Orleans, on the east side of New Orleans found some clothing and some other items belonging to Molly Elliott in a vacant lot near a highway known as Powers Junction. They turned those items over to the police, and in addition to that, they had found three ATM receipts, and police were able to trace those ATM receipts to a Region's bank in New Orleans. Now at the time, the people who found those items were told that officers were too busy to respond, so they took the items to the seventh District headquarters. And this was the day before Thanksgiving. Sadly, the next day, on November twenty eighth of nineteen ninety six, Thanksgiving morning, Molly's body had also been found in Saint Tammany Parish, Louisiana, which is about a half hour or so from New Orleans.

3:46 And shout out to those people who went way above and beyond what most people would do when they find discorded items a few pieces of clothing in some ATM receipts, and they went through all this trouble to make sure not only the police were aware of it, but also that they had possession of it, and unbeknownst to them at the time, those items would become a key part of a death penalty case. So just quickly a little bit of history about Molly Elliott, whose body was found in Saint Tammany Parish. She was twenty eight years old and she lived in Covington, Louisiana, which is about a half hour from the Crescent City. She was actually from California, but she accepted a job in Louisiana and that was just two years before she was found deceased. And she was married to a guy by the name of Andrew Elliott.

4:40 He was from Dallas, Texas, and neighbors they described that couple as just awesome people. Molly Elliott in particular was very outgoing, very bubbly, very vibrant, just a fun person to be around. So at the time that that couple was reporting the clo that they found in those ATM receipts, and just prior to Molly Elliott's body being found. Her husband Andrew had actually filed a missing persons report. This was about ten am on Thanksgiving Eve. Molly had failed to come home. He first did what you would normally do when she didn't show up. He starts calling friends and relatives and asking them if they had heard from her, and unfortunately no one had. The next morning, Thanksgiving morning, November twenty eighth of nineteen ninety six, a duck hunter who was hunting in Saint Tammany Parish on a makeshift dock by what's known as the Pearl River, he finds the body of Missy Elliott, and Missy had been shot with a single bullet in the head. Later that day, and again this is Thanksgiving Day, her husband Andrew had to identify her body. I just could not imagine that.

6:00 In police, they do what they do. They start investigating, and they discover that Molly Elliott was last seen leaving her office on Camp Street in New Orleans. This was on November twenty seventh of nineteen ninety six, and that she had plans to meet her husband at his office in Marrero, another outskirt of New Orleans, and they were going to go to dinner in New Orleans before returning back home. Now, this is where those ATM receipts that were found by the couple that turned them into police, this is where they really came into play, because police had those ATM receipts fresh in their mind and they remembered from the bank cards that were found with that discarded clothing the name Molly Elliott. So the first thing they did, they go straight to that region's bank, and region's bank they supply police with some video tape footage of the ATM area and it showed Molly withdrawing money while standing next to an African American mail wearing a jacket with the word Valet on it, and investigators recognized that jacket right away as a jacket worn by valets working at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown New Orleans, and it was also where Molly would regularly park her car, which was a nineteen ninety one Nissan two forty SX.

7:30 So they head to the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans and they talked to the big boss man at the Sheraton Hotel who's in charge of all those valets, and the manager mentions that during the time period that Molly was seen on that video footage, only one employee was on break and that was eighteen year old Jesse Hoffman. Now, in the meantime, while police are speaking to that manager, Molly's car was found abandoned in the French Quarter. So in short order, police haul Hoffman in for questioning. This was on November twenty ninth of nineteen ninety six, just today after Molly Elliott's body had been found. Haffman was picked up at a housing project in New Orleans and when police asked Hoffman his whereabouts during the relevant time, he first indicated that he left for work and took a bus to New Orleans East so that he could deliver some medication to his girlfriend. But police they were suspicious about this story because it kind of branched out from there and got a little ridiculous. He then said, while on the way to deliver medicine to his girlfriend, two African American males forced him into a car at gunpoint, and he got into the car and he noticed a white female in the back of the car with a towel over her head. Now stick with me. He then call that the men drove them to an atm and

9:03 forced the woman to withdraw money while the defendant stood next to her. And his claim got even more ridiculous and strange. He said, after driving a long distance, the man stopped the car near a bridge and he told Hoffman to quote, fuck this bitch, or I'll kill you and your girlfriend Rosanna, which he wasn't specific at the time on how they even knew who his girlfriend was. But obviously, because this story is total bullshit, the police didn't buy it. But he continues on with this bullshit story. He said he complied and he was forced to have sex with Molly, who, according to Hoffman, was then let out of the car. And as you can imagine, the truth never changes and his story changed a million times, which indicates it was total bullshit. And in his chain story, he said one of the men that was armed with a gun actually walked off with Molly when she got out of the car. He said he never heard any gunshots, but the man came back alone. He then claimed the two men dropped him off and he took a bus back to work and didn't even report it. Now, obviously he's lying, and it's obvious to me that he spun the story to explain a lot of things that he knew police would find. He's assuming if they buy the story, it would explain why police would find his DNA on her.

10:36 That's why he said he was quote forced to have sex with her. He also brought up the fact that he was forced to be outside that atm with Molly, which would explain the videotape. I mean, this dude was reaching because he knew he was fucked, because in reality, what he did was rob, rape and murder a good human being in Molly Elliot. So police continue to question Hoffman and in his videotape statement, he admits during the questioning that he kidnapped, robbed, raped, shot and killed Molly Elliott. And it was at this time that Hoffman was held at the Saint Tammany Parish jail and he got no bond, and this was big news, so you can believe that cameras were there. He actually appeared startled when he was confronted by a television camera as he was escorted into the back of a patrol carps and flight Out refused to answer any questions. Probably the smartest thing that he did during this whole ordeal. So reporters They then contact Molly Elliott's husband Andrew for a statement, and he said, quote this is all just too painful. I'm just not ready to speak about it and have no statement at this time. Unquote who could blame this guy? So on January eighth of nineteen ninety seven a Saint Tammany Parish

12:08 grand jury, they indict Jesse Hoffman on first degree murder in the murder of Molly Elliott and evidence is introduced at the trial showing that Hoffman kidnapped Molly at gunpoint in her own car as she was leaving that Sheraton parking garage after Molly's long day at work. And in the ATM videotape footage, you can see the terror. You can actually see it on Molly's face as she withdraws that money from her account. It's written all over her that something very horrible has happened. And if you're curious, it was two hundred dollars that was withdrawn from that ATM.

12:50 And when police spoke with Hoffman's girlfriend, she indicated they went shopping soon after. And guess what Hoffman paid cash for several items. Wonder where he got that cash from. Of course, after Molly withdrew the money, Hoffman forced her back into the car, then still at gunpoint, and told her to drive to a remote area in Saint Tammany Parish. On the way, according to Hoffman, Molly begged him not to hurt her, and he answered that he would not because she was cooperating. Hoffman even said that Molly offered herself to Hoffman while begging him not to hurt her, which personally, I don't believe it, and I guess he figured that his claim that she offered herself to him would allow him to escape a rape charge. I mean, this guy is obviously a total dumbass, right, So Hoffman and Molly they arrive at a secluded section of Saint Tamminy Parish, just north of Lake Pontcha Train where he brutally rapes her. So even after kidnapping, robbing, and raping Molly, all of which were done at gunpoint, Hoffman still didn't let her go, as we now know. Instead, he forced her still at gunpoint while she was completely nude, to get out of the car, marched down a dirt path that was overgrown with vegetation and in an area that

14:23 was used as a dump site for local people, just full of trash. He tells her to get down on her knees and he shoots her point blank in the head, execution style, and it's believed that Molly likely survived for a few minutes after being shot, but she was left on that dock completely nude on a cold November evening to die alone. Hoffman then disposed of her belongings, which we now know where the belongings turned in by that and he goes back to work after his break, and his boss noted that he was very late from that break, showing up actually two and a half hours late. So what happens a lot of times with these high profile cases is the defense will typically ask the court to change the venue in which the defendant is tried, and this case is no exception. The defense files for a change of venue request, but the judge in this case ruled against that change, saying that out of one hundred potential jurors, fewer than ten could recall anything about the case, it needed to stay there and I would agree with that.

15:43 And then in June of nineteen ninety eight, that trial finally takes place. A forensic pathologist by the name of Fraser Mackenzie. He testified that Molly did indeed survive for fifteen minutes after that bullet struck her head. The fisherman who found her body also testified, and he said that her head was near the water, her hair was wet, and he saw of this, jumped into his truck, went to the nearest store and called nine to one one. It was obvious to him that she was dead. The state presented DNA evidence leaking Hoffman directly to the crime, along with Hoffman's videotape statement, and although the defense never contested that Hoffman shot Molly, the defense did introduce the testimony of one witness, doctor Friedman, and he contested the validity of those DNA results. However, his testimony was deemed as not reliable, and the defense took it even one step farther, claiming that in a struggle, the gun accidentally fired and killed Molly and it was not an intentional homicide.

16:57 Of course, the jury they didn't buy any of this. He was found guilty of first degree murder as well as aggravated rape and aggravating circumstances. So on September eleventh of nineteen ninety eight, he gets sentenced, and the jury recommended unanimously that Hoffman would be sentenced to death via lethal injection. So, as is the case anytime you're convicted of pretty much anything, you're going to appeal, but especially when you're convicted of murder and convicted in sentenced to death, and Hoffman was no exception. He actually appealed his conviction and cited eighteen points of error in his jury trial.

17:48 And I'm not going to go over all of them, but I'll give you a few. For one, he complained that the court made a mistake in denying his change a venue request. Another complaint he had was as he said that his statements to the police should have been taken out because they took him into custody without, in his mind, probable cause. I mean, I don't know what he considers would be probable cause, but they had a fucking video tape of this guy at an ATM with a victim just prior to her death. I'd say that was pretty good probable cause. He also complained that two of the three African American potential jurors were dismissed from the jury pool without giving sufficient race neutral explanations. He even complained that the trial court did not have the right to introduce the videotape of the victim with drawing money at that atm. I mean, come on, and just a bunch of other ridiculous complaints of the court absolutely gets filled with every time there's a conviction, and just about every time. It's bullshit these complaints. Now, there are exceptions to that, as we all know, but this wasn't one of those cases. So on May twelfth of two thousand, the court denies Hoffman's application for rehearing. But Hoffman wasn't given up that easy. He brings it to the US

19:20 Supreme Court and they deny his appeal. This was in October of two thousand. So on July twentieth of two thousand and one, Hoffman then files an application for what's known as post conviction relief with the state's district court. Guess what. That application was denied. And I go over all of this because I want you to see the picture of this guy exhausting every appeal opportunity he had. Now, in April of twenty twelve, Hoffman files a lawsuit against Bloody Angla Warden Burl Caane. We've done an episode on Burl Caine. I'm go to check that out. Actually, it was a mini series of swords, and he challenged his conviction and death sentence, and of course none of that goes anywhere, and Hoffman at this point is just biding his time inside the wire. Then in April of twenty twenty two, a judge dismisses a nearly decade old lawsuit against executions in Louisiana, saying there's nothing to challenge because the state can't even get the required drugs as medications.

20:32 And this was a big deal, not only for Haffman, but for everyone else that was sentenced to death, because from twenty twelve to this time in twenty twenty two, executions were completely halted during this lawsuit filled time. Now, as I told you, with the start of this one, in twenty twenty four, Jeff Landry became the new governor of the state of Louisiana, very strong on crime, very tough, and one of his campaign promises was he was bringing back executions one way or the other, and he did just that, but with a little bit of a twist.

21:14 Rather than lethal injection, which nobody can get the medicine for this Louisiana, no exception. Louisiana is now going to nitrogen hypoxia as a form of execution. And on February tenth of twenty twenty five, less than a month ago, Hoffman's death warrant is signed with an execution date as I told you of March eighteenth of twenty twenty five. Hoffman is now forty seven years old. Now a little bit about nitrogen hypoxia executions. Alabama is actually the only state thus far to carry out those type of executions, and they've done four of them since January of twenty twenty four. And a little history on Louisiana. The last execution there was in twenty ten, and that was the execution of Gerald Bordelong. So that's a wrap. Right, March eighteenth is approaching. This guy has exhausted all his appeals and now it's just a matter of time. Y'all know better than that. I'm going to reference an article for you quickly that came out just last week in the New Orleans Times, pickying paper and the headline reads Louisiana death row inmate files lawsuit to block March eighteenth execution by nitrogen gas. Jesse Hoffman, the death row inmate who

22:45 could be the first man in Louisiana put to death by nitrogen gas, filed a new lawsuit late Tuesdays seeking to stop his March eighteenth execution. The suit challenges the state's newest method of execution, nitrogen gas, which state officials have informed Hoffman they intend to use to kill him. The filing marks the latest and a flurry of actions set off this month when Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced the state had readied its nitrogen gas execution protocols and it planned to resume executions after a fifteen year hiatus. Within days, a Saint Tammany Parish judge had signed Hoffman's execution warrant. Hoffman's attorneys had been fighting the decision in federal court ever since. Their latest lawsuit, filed in Louisiana's Middle District, says the state has refused to release the execution protocol to Hoffman, depriving him of his rights. It also claimed that executing Haffman via nitrogen gas would violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which forbids cruel and unusual punishment. Louisiana followed Alabama in endorsing nitrogen hypoxia last year as a method of execution. Alabama has executed four people to this date using the gas. Hoffman's attorneys pointed to witness accounts the painted grim picture of suffering by those inmates in their final minutes. Quote. Louisiana's nitrogen gas protocol is completely untested and no court has a chance

24:18 to review it. This from Cecilia Capel, an attorney for Hoffman. We haven't even been able to see the full protocol ourselves with Jesse's execution except for just three weeks from now. Hoffman's legal team also requested a stay of Hoffman's execution. The new lawsuit appeared to land with US District Judge Shelley Dick, the district chief judge who last week reopened a long dormant lawsuit Hoffman and other death row inmates filed in twenty twelve over Louisiana's execution protocols. A federal appeals court panel swiftly stayed the ruling by Dick, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, while it weighs an opposition from Attorney General Liz Murrell. The panel of Appeals Court Judges is comprised of Catherine Hayes, a nominee of George W. Bush In two nominees of President Donald Trump, James Hoe and Andrew Aldam Quote. I expect the lawyers to eventually file this lawsuit, Mural said Wednesday. That's the Attorney General. I have not had a chance to review it, so I cannot speak on the allegations, but I will vigorously oppose any attempts to delay carrying out justice under our law. Mural's team also questioned Hoffman's tactics in federal court.

25:38 They sent a letter Wednesday to the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals saying, in the light of Hoffman's new lawsuit being filed, the appeals court should order Dick to vacate a ruling that reopened the Hoffman's old suit. State Solicitor General Jay Benjamin Aguinaga wrote that Hoffman's attempt to commandeer and moot lethal and jection lawsuits brings a nitrogen challenge that is an extraordinary abuse of the law. Capel responded in a letter to the Fifth Circuit that said the new suit was necessary due to the extingent circumstances of the upcoming scheduled execution, Hoffman needs to ensure the opportunity to assert his constitutional rights before petitioners run out the clock. The article continues on and says it's been nearly thirty years since Hoffman committed the crime that landed him on death row. He was eighteen years old and working as a parking intendant in New Orleans when he kidnapped twenty eight year old Mary Molly Elliott on the night before Thanksgiving in nineteen ninety six as she walked back to her car in the New Orleans Central Business District.

26:46 Hoffman took her to a remote area near the Pearl River, where he rape shot and killed the advertising executive, who was married and living near Covington. Hoffman's attorneys say he has had a quote train information over the last three decades in prison, and is respected by prison staff and fellow inmates alike, and is focused on his faith. His attorneys this week applied for commission, asking Landry for a reprieve. In the meantime, Hoffman's attorneys acknowledged that he has exhausted all of his appeals, but Hoffman's case is the first time that Louisiana is expected to deploy nitrogen gas to put someone to death. Alabama is the first and only state so far to have executed inmates by the gas in the modern era. Alabama's first time using the gas as an execution method was in January of twenty twenty four, when the state put Kenneth Eugene Smith to death. News reports say that he thrashed violently and shook his head for about two minutes after the gas was administered. He then took gasping brusts. It took ten minutes until he can no longer be seen visibly breathing. Since then, Alabama has executed three others by nitrogen gas. Alan Eugene Miller carried Grayson in Demetrius Fraser. Eyewitness accounts of the later executions described prolonged deaths. It took thirteen minutes for Fraser to die after gas began flowing into his system. During

28:19 that time, Fraser twitched, shuddered, and appeared to struggle to breathe, the report said, And when Miller died by nitrogen gas, he shook on the gurney for about two minutes and periodically gulp for air for about six minutes before he went still. Hoffman seeks an alternative method. Hoffman is a debout Buddhist who practices faith for more than two decades. According to his legal team, he has attended Buddhist services on death row since they became available in twenty eighteen. His complaints said his lawyers argue forcing him to breathe pure nitrogen would interfere with his Buddhist practices at his time of death. According to the Buddha, one must maintain contact with the breath in order to be mindful. The complaint says, mister Hoffman sincerely believes that he must practice breathing meditation at the most critical time of his transition between life and death. The lawsuit argues that the execution would violate federal law protecting religious freedoms. Boy their reagion, Hoffman's complaints suggested two alternate methods which would be more humane than nitrogen hypoxia, though neither are legal in Louisiana.

29:36 The first is execution by firing squad, which the lawsuit calls a known, available and feasible alternative that will reduce pain and suffering. Some other states have legalized execution via firing squads, and a South Carolina inmate recently requested to be put to death via firing squad in his upcoming execution. The complaint also suggests the the use of cocktail drugs known as DDMAPH. Those drugs can be used for physician assisted suicide in states where it is legal. For more than thirty years, lethal injection was the state's only approved execution method at Landry's behesse. The state has added nitrogen hypoxia to that list last year, along with electrocution, which Louisiana had outlawed in nineteen ninety one. Will we see a return of gruesome gurdy? So there you have it, and I'm going to keep you updated on where this appeal goes. I think it's going to go nowhere, this lawsuit rather but I will keep you updated. And my only question is I wonder how many times Miss Molly twitched when he put that bullet through forehead and left her rate and dying in the dump in the middle of nowhere. That's all I got this week. Next week

31:08 I'm bringing you another one as we continue this series, And until next time, I'm Jim Chopman for Bloody and goa a podcast one hundred and forty two years in the making. The complete story of America's bloody is present. Peace a wall, street line, shackle chain. It's calling my name.

31:59 There is no mercy and it's been a century. Juice as the huge stream game Rango the three. I'm here, bef, I'm. Here to die inside these walls, inside the wild. And when no. As, I'm no insul. Bloody angle, ohbody angle,