Sanders signed the law hours before Louisiana executed its first inmate with the nitrogen gas method. Arkansas is now the fifth state to approve the method.

Nitrogen hypoxia, a method of execution Arkansas lawmakers are considering adopting, makes for a torturous death, witnesses say.

Before his execution, lawyers for Jessie Hoffman Jr., who was 18 when he was convicted of the 1996 murder of a 28-year-old woman, argued that the nitrogen gas execution infringed on his freedom to practice religion.