The American was injected with a lethal solution. She was pronounced dead at 18:51 (local time) at Bon Terre Prison in the state of Missouri (central USA).
An American woman sentenced to death for the murder of her ex-partner became the first transgender woman to be executed in US history on Tuesday.
Amber McLaughlin, 49, is also the first person to be executed in 2023 in this country.
The American was injected with a lethal solution. She was pronounced dead at 18:51 (local time) at Bon Terre Prison in the state of Missouri (central USA).
He had been convicted of murder committed in 2003, before he made the gender change. According to local media, he was being held in the male death row wing.
She was convicted of murdering her ex-partner in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.
McLaughlin could not stand their separation and harassed the victim, to the extent that her ex-girlfriend appealed to the authorities and asked for measures to be taken to protect her.
But on the day of the crime, McLaughlin ambushed her outside her work, armed with a kitchen knife. He raped her, stabbed her and dumped the victim’s body near the Mississippi River.
At her trial in 2006, jurors found her guilty but could not agree on a sentence. By the judge’s decision, he was sentenced to death.
Missouri and Indiana are the only states where judges are allowed to impose death sentences if juries cannot unanimously decide on the penalty.
Citing this peculiarity, McLaughlin’s defense attorneys asked Republican Gov. Mike Parsons to commute the sentence to life in prison, since it “reflected not the will of the community but the judge alone.” They also cited their client’s difficult childhood and psychiatric problems.
Many figures, including two Missouri congressmen, Cory Bush and Emmanuel Cleaver, supported the request.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), no openly transgender person had been executed in the country until yesterday. The issue, however, “has gained attention in recent months, after the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Victoria Drain, and Oregon commuted the sentence of Tara Zeist.” These are two other transsexuals.
Since being elected governor of Missouri in 2018, Republican Mike Parson has not accepted any requests to show clemency, to grant clemency to death row inmates.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
