Crime
Missouri becomes the first state to execute a transgender person
The execution has been highlighted by activists, politicians, and legal experts, who claim that there were significant failures in the system during the sentencing phase of her trial
January 3, 2023 9:16pm
Updated: January 4, 2023 11:24am
Missouri executed the first openly transgender person in the United States and the first person in 2023 on Tuesday, after her request for clemency was rejected.
Amber McLaughlin, 49, was put to death by lethal injection for killing a former girlfriend in 2003. She was found guilty of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and forcible rape in 2006.
The execution has been highlighted by activists, politicians, and legal experts, who claim that there were significant failures in the system during the sentencing phase of her trial.
According to McLaughlin’s counsel, evidence of her mental health experiences was never brought up. Her counsel claimed that McLaughlin faced constant abuse and neglect from her family and the foster care system, causing her to experience trauma.
"She was failed by the institutions, individuals, and interventions that should have protected her, and her abusers obstructed the care she so desperately needed," the application for executive clemency read. "McLaughlin has been consistently diagnosed with borderline intellectual disability. She has also been universally diagnosed with brain damage as well as fetal alcohol syndrome."
While the jury did not recommend the death penalty for McLaughlin, a trial judge imposed the measure when the jury deadlocked on a punishment decision.
In 2016, a federal district court vacated her death sentence based on her mental health. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the decision.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson declined to commute the sentence.
"McLaughlin's conviction and sentence remain after multiple, thorough examinations of Missouri law. McLaughlin stalked, raped, and murdered Ms. Guenther. McLaughlin is a violent criminal," Parson said in a statement Tuesday. "Ms. Guenther's family and loved ones deserve peace. The State of Missouri will carry out McLaughlin's sentence according to the Court's order and deliver justice."
McLaughlin underwent a gender transition while in prison. There is no known case of an openly transgender person executed in the U.S. before McLaughlin, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
