The first transgender executions in the United States took place late Tuesday when a transgender woman found guilty of murder was executed.
Amber McLaughlin; image credits – NBC News
How Did Amber McLaughlin Die?
As per a statement from the state prison division, Amber McLaughlin, 49, was pronounced dead at the Diagnostic & Correctional Center in the Missouri town of Bonne Terre shortly before 7 p.m. local time. McLaughlin was put to death by lethal injection.
Amber McLaughlin’s Crime
Before she transitioned, she was found guilty of killing a previous girlfriend in a St. Louis suburb in 2003. As a result of McLaughlin’s stalking of the victim, the ex-partner requested a restraining order. McLaughlin watched for the victim, Beverly Guenther, as she left work on the day of the murder. Guenther was murdered by a kitchen knife after being sexually assaulted. Near the Mississippi River, her dead body was thrown.
Amber McLaughlin: 1st Transgender Getting Death Sentence
McLaughlin was not only the 1st person to die by the death penalty in America this year, but also the 1st transgender person of any gender to be executed in the nation. A jury in 2006 convicted McLaughlin guilty of the murder but couldn’t agree on how to punish her. The trial judge intervened and handed down the death sentence. Both Indiana and Missouri permit such involvement. Her attorneys petitioned Governor Mike Parson to reduce McLaughlin’s sentence to life in prison, pointing to the fact that a jury did not convict her guilty of capital murder.
Her attorneys stated in their mercy appeal that “the death penalty now being contemplated does not emanate from the morality of the people but from a solitary judge.” Additionally, they contended that McLaughlin experienced mental health problems and had a rough childhood. High-profile individuals, including two Missouri representatives in the US House of Representatives, Cori Bush & Emanuel Cleaver, had backed her cause.
They claimed in a letter to the governor that McLaughlin’s adoptive father had beaten and even tasered her with a baton in the past. According to press accounts, McLaughlin started transitioning recently but had continued to be housed in the Missouri death row for men. There has never been a known instance of an openly transgender person being sentenced in the United States, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which campaigns to end the practice in the country.
According to the organization, the topic has gained increased interest in recent months as a result of the Ohio supreme court upholding a transgender woman’s death sentence and Oregon state commuted one.
FAQs
1. When did Amber McLaughlin die?
Ans. 3 January 2023
2. What is Amber McLaughlin’s crime?
Ans. Murder
3. Who is the 1st transgender to get the death penalty in America?
Ans. Amber McLaughlin
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