Lawyers for Louisiana and death row inmate Jessie Hoffman Jr. have agreed to unseal the state's nitrogen gas execution protocol, which was being kept secret from the public until now.

Louisiana is scheduled to execute a man with nitrogen gas on March 18. Arkansas lawmakers are seeking to introduce nitrogen there after an eight-year pause in executions.

Arkansas lawmakers advanced legislation to authorize nitrogen gas as an execution method. Supporters say it will allow executions to resume in a state that hasn’t put anyone to death since it executed four inmates in 2017.

Louisiana's nitrogen gas execution protocol hasn't been released to the public. "It relates to the most solemn … government action that the government can take, which is to take somebody’s life," said the lawyer for Jessie Hoffman,

Attorneys argued that nitrogen gas executions are "cruel and unusual punishment," noting that veterinarians have banned them for euthanizing animals.

A bill allowing for nitrogen hypoxia to be used as a criminal execution method for the Arkansas Department of Corrections passed the Arkansas House Judiciary Committee on Thursday (Feb.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas is one step closer to approving nitrogen gas as a method of execution in capital cases. House Bill 1489 passed the House Tuesday afternoon in a 67-23 vote for that chamber. If the bill becomes law, it would allow the execution of an inmate by nitrogen gas.

Arkansas currently only allows executions by lethal injection. If this bill becomes law, the state would join a small group of others permitting nitrogen hypoxia.