Four Death Row Inmates Executed Across US States

This week, four death row inmates were executed in the United States, including Jessie Hoffman in Louisiana, marking the state's first execution in 15 years. Hoffman's execution by nitrogen gas has drawn significant criticism for potentially violating his religious practices, as he claims it interferes with his Buddhist meditative breathing. Despite a last-minute stay issued by a district court, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay, allowing the execution to proceed. In addition to Hoffman, Wendell Grissom was executed in Oklahoma for a 2005 murder during a robbery, and Edward James was executed in Florida for the 1993 rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl and her grandmother. The method of nitrogen hypoxia, used for Hoffman's execution, has been denounced by UN experts as inhumane, and only Alabama has previously employed this method. This series of executions comes amid discussions of capital punishment's future in the US, with some states abolishing it while others continue its practice.