Bill to remove gas suffocation executions nixed despite change of heart from some lawmakers

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) - A Louisiana House committee stopped a bill that would have reversed the state’s position on using nitrogen hypoxia to execute death row inmates.

The state has only had the gas suffocation method on the books for a few months after a bill passed adding it during the governor’s special crime session in February. The bill also shielded companies that provide the drugs for executions from public records.

Louisiana has 56 inmates on death row and it has been over a decade since the last execution.