Update: Christopher Sepulvado died in prison Feb. 21 before the state could execute him.
On Feb. 17, an interfaith group of religious leaders gathered at Touro Synagogue in New Orleans for a prayer vigil in protest of Louisiana’s plan to use gas as a means of killing individuals on Death Row.
Organized and led by Jews Against Gassing, Jewish faith leaders shared their individual testimonies of how this experimental method of execution is evoking the trauma of the Holocaust due to the Nazi regime’s use of gas for murdering Jews throughout Europe.
Some Jewish speakers shared stories of family members who had either been gassed to death or narrowly escaped with their lives during the Holocaust. Some leaders shared that not all members of their coalition disagreed with the general use of the death penalty, but they universally agreed that the use of gas was unethical. Others, still, called for the complete end to all forms of the death penalty.
Marc Boswell
In 2024, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and the state legislature approved the use of nitrogen hypoxia (lethal gas) as an alternative method for executing individuals on Death Row. Prior to 2024, execution by lethal injection was the state’s default method. However, due to the difficulty in procuring the drugs and other legal challenges, the state has not executed anyone since 2010. The newly elected governor, however, arrived at the state Capitol in 2024 with the promise to resume executions, despite his Catholic faith and supposed pro-life values.
Nitrogen hypoxia rarely has been used in the United States, with Alabama being the first state to use it in early 2024. No sedative was given to the gentleman being executed, Kenneth Smith, and witnesses reported afterward that it took Smith up to 22 minutes to be pronounced dead after convulsing and writhing in pain for much of that time.
State officials in Alabama had incorrectly promised the method would be painless, even though veterinarian associations warned the use of gas was certainly painful and unethical — so unethical that it is not an approved means of euthanizing stray animals. In Louisiana, in 2013, the state legislature agreed with the veterinarians’ association and expressly prohibited the practice.
Now, however, Gov. Landry and Louisiana legislature find it suitable for the killing of human beings.
In a despicable act of cowardice, Landry also waited less than 24 hours until after the conclusion of the Super Bowl, which was held in New Orleans on Feb. 9, to announce the state had finalized and approved the new protocols for gassing people to death. After the national spotlight had turned away from the celebration of New Orleans and Louisiana culture and heritage, two execution dates using the Nazi-like methods were immediately set for March 17 and March 18.
The first person scheduled to be executed using nitrogen hypoxia, Christopher Sepulvado, has been on Death Row for 33 years. He is confined to a wheelchair due to an abundance of medical problems. Under the watch of Gov. Landry, the 81-year-old Sepulvado will have a mask placed over his face and will be gassed to death on March 17, pending any legal interventions.
One wonders whether Sepulvado will even be taken out of his wheelchair before he is so inhumanely murdered by Gov. Landry and the state.
Marc Boswell serves as pastor of St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans.
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Trump demands death penalty be restored
Louisiana Jews form alliance to oppose gassing as means of execution