Louisiana Gov Landry Says Executions Are Set to Resume

BATON ROUGE, LA

There are currently 58 people on death row in Louisiana.  One inmate, Nathaniel Code, was convicted of 4 counts of 1st Degree Murder in Caddo Parish in 1985. That's 40 years ago.  Marcus Reed was convicted in 2010 for the deaths of Jarquis, Jeremiah, and Eugene Adams, allegedly over a stolen XBox console.  James Tyler was convicted of murder in the 1995 death of a fast-food restaurant manager.  Two other employees were shot in the head, but they survived and identified Tyler.  And the list goes on and on.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry took a jab at the previous administration in a statement.

For too long, Louisiana has failed to uphold the promises made to victims of our state's most violent crimes. But that failure of leadership by previous administrations is over. The time for broken promises has ended.  We will carry out these sentences and justice will be dispensed.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill agrees with Governor Landry about the need to reinstitute the state's death penalty.

Those sentenced to death have been convicted by a jury of their peers for the most heinous and barbaric crimes imaginable.  These are the worst of the worst.  Governor Landry and I are committed to moving this process forward to finally get justice for victims.

READ MORE: Shreveport Murderer Denied Parole After 30 Years Behind Bars

Governor Landry said the Department of Corrections has finalized an execution protocol which includes procedures for nitrogen hypoxia, a procedure the state approved last year. Controversy over the death penalty is certainly nothing new.  Political analyst Bernie Pinsonat said:

There's a lot of factors that come into the decision.  There's a lot of factors that come into how a person approaches the death sentence whether they're for or against it.

 

The state hasn't carried out an execution since 2010 with the previous governor John Bel Edwards saying difficulty in getting drugs being the major reason.  But the previous governor was also opposed to the death penalty.

No date has been set officially for the next scheduled execution but Landry is calling for local district attorneys to finalize their cases so the state can move forward in carrying out the sentences.