Jessie Hoffman is dead. Baton Rouge Advocate reporter John Simerman assured us of that with his account of the death row inmate’s final moments. Thankfully, Simerman’s account wasn’t as macabre as it could have been.
I’m not going to defend Hoffman. By all accounts, he was guilty of the robbery, rape and execution-style murder of 28-year-old Mary “Molly” Elliott in 1996. But there are 55 other prisoners on Louisiana’s death row and we’ve seen too many times how an innocent person can find himself on death row – some for decades before they’re exonerated.
JOHN THOMPSON comes immediately to mind. Wrongly convicted for murder because District Attorney Harry Connick withheld exculpatory evidence, Thompson spent 14 years on death row before his exoneration. He sued Connick and was awarded $14 million – a million for every year he spent waiting to die for a crime he did not commit. Volumes have been written about the gross miscarriage of justice by the Supreme Court in this matter.
The $14 million award was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, first by Connick and then by his successor, Leon Cannizaro. Clarence Thomas wrote the decision for the 5-4 decision to overturn the award. For 14 years on death row, Thomas received zero. Zilch. Nothing.
Then there’s GLENN FORD who spent an incredible 30 years on death row after being wrongfully convicted of a murder he never committed.
That’s why I wrote my latest book, 101 Wrongful Convictions in Louisiana. National estimates have put the percentage of innocent persons being held in prisons at between 2 and 10 percent. With 64,000 prisoners in Louisiana jails and prisons, that could mean as many as 6,400 prisoners being wrongfully incarcerated – as many as five on death row.
My book (you can order it HERE for $25) cites at least four who were sentenced to die but were later exonerated when withheld evidence or new evidence proved their innocence.
Louisiana isn’t unique. Texas loves to kill people – even innocent ones. They even made a movie about one innocent individual who died at the hands of authorities who couldn’t wait to kill a convict as an example of some misplaced law and order obsession that overpowered common sense and a sense of genuine justice.
I’m no bleeding heart. I’m not. Those guilty of crimes should be punished. I don’t and have never questioned that. But before we take another’s life, we have to be absolutely certain that the person we’re killing is guilty BEYOND THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT.
Louisiana Voice 
This execution, the first in 15 years, was deeply disturbing. It opens the door to more. Whom does the death penalty serve? There is no study that shows the death penalty deters crime. It re-traumatizes the victim’s family, one of whom requested and was denied a meeting with Jesse Hoffman. It commits another murder to counter a murder – same crime, imho. It’s barbaric, expensive, and as you point out, its finality in a system that is not always just, is reason enough to stop this method of punishment. But now we will see more.
Agree with Ms. Rustemeyer. The appeal process, in my opinion, is too long, but necessary at this point. We must never give up the fight, never mind, I just flashed to trump, kennedy, landry.
The death of one innocent man is one too many. Our “justice” system has too many faults to prevent that from happening. Until we perfect it, we need to do away with the death penalty. And I completely agree with what you say, Tom.