Louisiana used nitrogen gas to put Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, to death Tuesday evening in the state's first execution in 15 years. Nitrogen gas has been used just four other times to execute a person in the United States — all in Alabama, the only other state with a protocol for the method.

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.

Louisiana is set to put a condemned man to death using nitrogen gas Tuesday evening in its first execution since 2010, which would make it only the second state to administer the controversial method.