BATON ROUGE - Dozens gathered outside of the Governor's Mansion on Sunday to protest against the execution of Jessie Hoffman Jr.

Hoffman, who is scheduled to die Tuesday, has been on death row for nearly 20 years after being convicted of the 1996 rape and murder of Mary "Molly" Elliott. The Louisiana Supreme Court says Hoffman is not entitled to a later date of execution because the preliminary injunction he won last week did not last long enough. Hoffman is set to be executed March 18 at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

"Killing people who kill people doesn't say anything about how bad killing is. It's just a continuation of the violence we're trying to prevent. The victim's family isn't even coming to the execution. They don't see the execution giving any closure to them," one of Hoffman's legal representatives, Bill Quigley, said.

Hoffman will be the first prisoner in the state to be executed since 2010. He's also set to be the first in the state to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia. Protesters and Hoffman's representatives are calling the method 'inhumane' and an "experimental' execution. 

Hoffman's legal representatives say Hoffman has had plenty of time to reflect on what he did. 

"Every single person that has met Jessie Hoffman talks about how much time he has spent making himself into the best person he can be," Executive Director of The Justice of Promise Initiative Samantha Kennedy said. 

Event organizer Sister Helen Prejean says this is not the way to get justice for the victim's family.

"He did an unspeakably horrible thing of raping and murdering his victim, but that's not all that Jessie is. See, with the death penalty, it's like the seal of a light. You crystalize that this is their essence. They say sit in the front row, and you get to watch as we kill the one who killed your loved one, and that's going to heal you. As if,"  she said.