Since 1977, nearly 1,600 death row convicts have been executed in the United States; however, a woman who is openly transgender will be the first to be Executed in Missouri on Tuesday.
Amber McLaughlin, 49, will be executed for stalking and killing a former girlfriend nearly 20 years ago. McLaughlin’s fate rests with Republican Governor Mike Parson, who is considering a clemency plea because no legal appeals are anticipated.
McLaughlin’s tragic background and mental health concerns, which the jury never heard about during her trial, were mentioned in a clemency appeal.
According to the petition, her adoptive father shocked her and her foster dad put excrement on her face when she was a kid. The petition also mentioned acute despair that led to repeated attempts at suicide as a child and an adult.
The petition also contained documentation stating a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, a condition that results in suffering and other symptoms when a person’s gender identity and the sex they were assigned at birth diverge.
However, according to McLaughlin’s lawyer, Larry Komp, sexual identity is “not the main focus” of the clemency request,
Long before he transitioned, McLaughlin was dating Beverly Guenther in 2003. According to court documents, McLaughlin would show up at Guenther’s suburban St. Louis business after they broke up, sometimes hiding inside the structure.
Guenther secured a restraining order, and occasionally after work, police officers would accompany her to her vehicle.
On the evening of November 20, 2003, Guenther’s neighbours alerted the police after she failed to get back home. Officers arrived at the office building and discovered a blood trail and a broken knife handle close to her car.
A day later, McLaughlin directed police to the spot where the body had been discarded in St. Louis, close to the Mississippi River.
In 2006, McLaughlin was found guilty of first-degree murder. A jury couldn’t agree on a verdict, so a judge executed McLaughlin.
According to Komp, only Missouri and Indiana permit death sentences to be handed down by judges rather than juries.
A federal appeals court panel reinstated the death penalty in 2021 despite a 2016 court injunction for a new sentencing hearing.
According to Jessica Hicklin, McLaughlin started transitioning roughly three years ago. Hicklin, 43, filed a lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections to contest a rule that forbade hormone therapy for prisoners who hadn’t been getting it before being imprisoned.
She prevailed in the lawsuit in 2018 and afterwards served as a mentor to McLaughlin and other transgender prisoners.
McLaughlin was characterized by Hicklin, who spent 26 years in jail for a drug-related murder before being freed a year ago, as a very shy individual who emerged from her shell after deciding to transition.
“She always had a smile and a dad joke,” Hicklin said. “If you ever talked to her, it was always with the dad jokes.”
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are 3,200 transgender detainees in jails and prisons across the country.
