An effort by Louisiana’s Jewish community to bar nitrogen gas as an execution method was blocked by a conservative legislative committee on Tuesday.
Alabama was the first state in the nation to use the gas earlier this year. Since then, several Republican-led states have added the method, prompting a backlash by opponents who say it is inhumane. Members of the Jewish community in Louisiana have another reason for rejecting it: They say it invokes trauma from the Holocaust, when the Nazis used lethal gas to kill millions of European Jews.
“I cannot remain silent against a method of execution that so deeply offends our people and displays blatant disrespect for our collective trauma,” said Rabbi David Cohen-Henriquez of Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation in Metairie, Louisiana.
While the bill to remove nitrogen hypoxia executions from state law advanced in the GOP-dominated Senate, it came to a screeching halt in a House legislative committee Tuesday. During the hearing, Republican committee members and others argued against the parallels presented by Jewish advocates, saying the execution of death row inmates is not comparable to the Holocaust.
“We’re not talking about innocent children, men or women. … We’re talking about criminals who were convicted by a jury of 12,” said Republican state Rep. Tony Bacala.
The committee rejected the bill to eliminate the execution method by a vote of 8-3, along party lines. With less than two weeks left in Legislative Session, the measure is likely dead.
