Federal judge halts Louisiana's first nitrogen gas execution, state says it will appeal

BATON ROUGE, La. — A federal judge has halted Louisiana's first death row execution using nitrogen gas, which was scheduled to take place next week.

U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday, stopping the state from immediately moving forward with the execution, which would have been Louisiana's first in 15 years. Attorney General Liz Murrill said the state will immediately appeal the decision.

In her ruling, Dick said the court is tasked with answering the question: "Is nitrogen hypoxia cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment?"