Missouri carried out the first execution of an openly transgender woman in the history of the United States on Tuesday (article available here).
McLaughlin’s execution – the first in the US this year – is unusual: Executions of women in the United States are already rare. Prior to McLaughlin’s execution, just 17 had been put to death since 1976.
Most US states with the death penalty require a jury to unanimously vote to recommend or impose the death penalty, but Missouri does not. McLaughlin’s trial judge imposed the death penalty.
A federal judge in 2016 vacated McLaughlin’s death sentence due to ineffective counsel, court records show, citing her trial attorneys’ failure to present that expert testimony. That ruling, however, was later overturned by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Amber McLaughlin, 49, spent her final moments in a small, white room in the state’s Eastern Reception and Diagnostic Corrections Center. She was accompanied by a spiritual advisor who sat by her side when a five milligram dose of pentobarbital was administered at 6:39 p.m. What appeared to be the outline of a strap used to secure McLaughlin to a hospital-like bed could be seen beneath the white linen under which she lay. The official time of death was 6:51 p.m.
McLaughlin’s final written statement was, "I am sorry for what I did. I am a loving and caring person."
The execution represents the first time a woman has been put to death in Missouri since 1953, when the federal government executed Bonnie Brown Heady.
Among those lobbying for McLaughlin's life to be spared were U.S. Representatives Cori Bush (D-St. Louis) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-Kansas City). They wrote in a letter to Parson, "Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done."
In a letter to the governor, a group of clergy called Guenther's murder "a tragic waste of life," writing, "We strongly believe … society can adequately protect human life without capital punishment."