Jessie Hoffman Jr. was born on September 1, 1978, in Louisiana, United States.

On November 26, 1996, Jessie Hoffman Jr. committed a serious crime involving the kidnapping and murder of a woman named Mary "Molly" Elliot in Louisiana. On that day, 28-year-old Molly had just finished her work and was walking to the Sheraton parking garage in downtown New Orleans to get her car. In the garage, she met Hoffman, who was a valet there. He kidnapped her at gunpoint inside her own car.

Hoffman forced Molly to drive to an ATM and take out $200 in cash. Afterward, he directed her to a remote location in St. Tammany Parish. When they arrived, Hoffman assaulted her at gunpoint and then forced her to kneel near the Middle Pearl River. He shot her in the head and left her body behind. Hoffman took her belongings and discarded the murder weapon after the crime.

Mary Elliot's body was discovered two days later, on November 28, 1996, by a duck hunter. She had been reported missing after she did not arrive home for dinner. Her husband identified her body later that day. Police found evidence that led them to Hoffman, including three ATM receipts and ATM photographs showing him with Elliot. Initially, Hoffman denied his involvement in the murder but eventually admitted to committing the crime.

After his arrest, Hoffman was charged with first-degree murder. In January 1997, a grand jury indicted him for this charge. He faced trial in 1998, where it was revealed that he used the stolen money for shopping with his girlfriend. During the trial, Hoffman initially claimed that the encounter with Molly was consensual. He later changed his story, saying that the gun went off accidentally while they were struggling. However, on June 25, 1998, the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder.

On June 27, 1998, the jury recommended the death penalty for Hoffman, and he was formally sentenced to death on September 11, 1998. Over the years, he filed several appeals in an attempt to overturn his conviction and sentence, but these were consistently denied by courts, including the Louisiana Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2023, Hoffman's legal team filed petitions for clemency, but these were rejected the following month. The political landscape regarding the death penalty in Louisiana shifted when Governor John Bel Edwards expressed his opposition to capital punishment, but legislative efforts to abolish it were not successful.

On February 12, 2025, Jessie Hoffman was given a death warrant scheduling his execution for March 18, 2025. This marked him as one of the first inmates set to be executed in Louisiana after a long hiatus. Leading up to his execution date, Hoffman's legal team planned to challenge the state's decision to use nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution.

As of early 2025, Jessie Hoffman Jr. remains on death row, awaiting his planned execution.