Despite repeated pleas by Jewish advocates, lawmakers on the House Criminal Justice Committee voted against Senate Bill 430 to remove nitrogen hypoxia, or gassing, as an execution method in Louisiana by a vote of 8-to-3. The defeat comes one month after the Senate had approved the measure 22-to-16, on April 12.
In late February, Louisiana lawmakers added nitrogen gas and electrocution as approved methods of execution with House Bill 6. The approval came near the end of a special legislation dedicated to fighting violent crime.
Lethal injection had been the accepted method. But it had not been used during a 14-year pause, caused by a shortage of the lethal drugs required for the procedure. It is that pause that led to consideration of other methods of execution.
In January of this year, Alabama became the first state to use nitrogen gas to induce hypoxia, with the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith. The following month came Louisiana’s adoption of the same method. As Molly Ryan with Louisiana Public Radio reports, since then a group of Jewish advocates has pushed for lawmakers to remove gas as an execution method, noting similarities to the way Jewish people were killed during the holocaust and saying it evokes trauma.
But opponents of the bill rejected comparisons to the holocaust. That includes Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville. According to an Associated Press report on Tuesday Bacala said, “We’re not talking about innocent children, men or women. … We’re talking about criminals who were convicted by a jury of 12.”
