Louisiana ended its 15-year death penalty hiatus Tuesday when it executed convicted rapist and murderer Jessie Hoffman with nitrogen gas. Hoffman, 46, was put to death at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola for the 1996 killing of 28-year-old Mary “Molly” Elliot,

On the day that Louisiana’s first execution in 15 years is scheduled to take place, attorneys for the inmate are hoping for a last-minute court ruling to halt the death penalty from being carried out.

Louisiana executed a man convicted of murder with nitrogen gas on Tuesday evening, capping a raging legal battle that ended with a gas mask strapped over the man's face in the Angola State Penitentiary death chamber.