Amber McLaughlin

Missouri governor does not grant clemency, first openly transgender death row inmate to be executed · The crime · The conviction.

Missouri on Tuesday is scheduled to execute Amber McLaughlin, a transgender woman convicted of a 2003 murder, who unsuccessfully sought clemency from the ...

In addition to the issue of her deadlocked jury, McLaughlin’s attorneys pointed to her struggles with mental health, as well as a history of childhood trauma. “It would continue the systemic failures that existed throughout Amber’s life where no interventions occurred to stop and intercede to protect her as a child and teen,” Komp said. At trial, McLaughlin’s jury did not hear expert testimony about her mental state at the time of Guenther’s murder, the petition said. [require a jury to unanimously vote to recommend or impose the death penalty](https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/10/us/nikolas-cruz-penalty-phase-explainer/index.html), but Missouri does not. That ruling, however, was later overturned by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. [ According to state law](https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=565.030&bid=33576), in cases where a jury is unable to agree on the death penalty, the judge decides between life imprisonment without parole or death. “McLaughlin was pronounced dead at 6:51 p.m.,” the Missouri Department of Corrections said in a written statement. Several weeks later, while the order was in effect, McLaughlin waited for Guenther outside the victim’s workplace, court records say. The non-profit organization confirmed McLaughlin is the first openly transgender person to be executed in the United States. But in a statement Tuesday, Parson’s office announced the execution would move forward as planned. Louis, which housed male inmates, McLaughlin’s federal public defender Larry Komp and the governor’s office have said. Prior to McLaughlin’s execution, just 17 had been put to death since 1976, [when the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty](https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/03/us/amber-mclaughlin-missouri-execution/index.html#:~:text=when%20the%20US%20Supreme%20Court%20reinstated%20the%20death%20penalty) after a brief suspension, according to [the Death Penalty Information Center](https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/03/us/amber-mclaughlin-missouri-execution/index.html#:~:text=according%20to%20the%20Death%20Penalty%20Information%20Center).

Amber McLaughlin, a transgender woman, faces execution Tuesday after Missouri Gov. Mike Parson chose not to grant her clemency request.

Missouri is one of only two states, alongside Indiana, that allows a judge to issue a death sentence rather than a jury. 20, 2003, Guenther's neighbors called police when she failed to return home, and police officers discovered a broken knife handle and trail of blood near her car at the office building. A judge sentenced McLaughlin to death for the murder in 2006 after a jury was deadlocked on her sentence. The document cites chronic trauma McLaughlin experienced in childhood, including brain damage from fetal alcohol exposure, traumatic brain injuries as a child, abuse she suffered — including tasing and beating — at her adoptive home, and her diagnosed depression and suicide attempts as reasons for clemency. 12 by McLaughlin's attorneys requested a sentence of life without parole in place of a death sentence. There are no known previous cases in which an openly transgender person was executed, according to the anti-execution [Death Penalty Information Center](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/missouri-set-to-execute-amber-mclaughlin-on-january-3-in-first-u-s-execution-of-a-transgender-person).

McLaughlin, convicted of first-degree murder in 2006, is the first known transgender woman to be executed in the United States.

McLaughlin marks the sixth person executed in Missouri under Parson's tenure as governor. Nationally, 18 people were executed last year, [according to the Death Penalty Information Center](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/execution-database?state=Missouri&federal=No&sort=dateString/desc). That petition was declined by Parson, who ordered the execution to proceed Tuesday morning. She was convicted of first-degree murder in 2006, and a judge sentenced her to death after a jury deadlocked on punishment. A later appeals court ruling reinstated the death penalty. Mike Parson declined to grant clemency.

They held signs reading: Missouri kills in your name. Who would Jesus execute? Say no to the death penalty. McLaughlin's execution warrant goes into effect at 6 ...

The State of Missouri will carry out McLaughlin’s sentence according to the Court’s order and deliver justice.” “McLaughlin’s conviction and sentence remains after multiple, thorough examinations of Missouri law. “I think that the death penalty is revenge killing,” she said. Ann Bode-Rodriguez said she is a member of the parish and that her God is loving and merciful. Another, Mary Buren, carried a bouquet of pink flowers and donned a pink scarf. Missouri and Indiana are the only states that grant

McLaughlin was convicted of first-degree murder in 2006 and was sentenced to death by a judge after the jury deadlocked on a sentencing decision.

Hicklin said she rarely spoke to McLaughlin before McLaughlin's transition, describing her fellow inmate as shy. She was convicted of first-degree murder in 2006 in the killing of Beverly Guenther, and a judge sentenced her to death after the jury deadlocked on its sentencing decision. McLaughlin’s appeal for clemency argued that the jury did not listen to issues about her mental health. “I am a loving and caring person.” “McLaughlin is a violent criminal,” Parson said in a statement Tuesday. McLaughlin breathed heavily a couple of times, then shut her eyes.

At a prison in Bonne Terre on Tuesday, the state of Missouri carried out the first execution of an openly transgender woman in the history of the United ...

In the clemency application, McLaughlin's attorneys wrote that she "never had a chance. Like the Supreme Court, Parson used the name “Scott McLaughlin” in issuing the order. However, in 2021, a three-judge panel in the U.S. McLaughlin raped and stabbed her to death before leaving her lifeless body in the Patch neighborhood in south St. McLaughlin's attorneys and other supporters lobbied until the end for her life to be spared. After a four-day trial in 2006, the jury in the case was unanimous that McLaughlin had murdered Guenther, but they couldn't agree on whether the punishment should be life in prison or death. One day, Hicklin was introduced to McLaughlin for the first time as Amber. With the jury deadlocked, the decision was left to St. Bennett appeared to speak and sing to McLaughlin after the injection. McLaughlin breathed heavily a few times before succumbing to the drugs. [Amber McLaughlin](https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/amber-mclaughlin-is-next-on-missouris-execution-list-39032908), 49, was put to death for the murder of Beverly Guenther. McLaughlin's final moments were spent in a small, white room in the state’s Eastern Reception and Diagnostic Corrections Center.

Amber McLaughlin died by lethal injection at a prison in eastern Missouri. The transgender woman was convicted of rape and murder in St. Louis County.

29](https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article269974422.html). [sentence Kevin Johnson to death](https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article269331002.html). The State of Missouri will carry out McLaughlin’s sentence according to the Court’s order and deliver justice.” 7, Leonard “Raheem” Taylor is scheduled to die by lethal injection in Missouri. Her effort at renewal stands in stark contrast to the disenchanting nature of her death.” Four states including Missouri have execution dates scheduled this year. Guenther and was tormented by the memory of what she had done,” Komp said. McLaughlin is a violent criminal.” The head of the Missouri State Public Defender’s office also asked Parson for clemency. Missouri and Indiana are the only two states that allow a judge to impose capital punishment when a jury cannot make a decision. “It is difficult to comprehend how our fellow citizens were relegated to bystanders by a legal loophole,” Komp said. Mike Parson that the death sentence was handed down “via a flaw in Missouri’s capital sentencing scheme.”

McLaughlin was sentenced to death in the killing of a former girlfriend Beverly Guenther in 2003. McLaughlin was found guilty of first degree murder, armed ...

McLaughlin’s counsel said she “never had a chance,” according to the application for executive clemency. McLaughlin’s cruel execution would mark the state’s first use of the death penalty on a woman since the U.S. The State of Missouri will carry out McLaughlin’s sentence according to the Court’s order and deliver justice.” Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, and even worse it would not solve any of the systemic problems facing Missourians and people all across America, including anti-LGBTQ+ hate and violence, and cycles of violence that target and harm women,” the letter said. According to McLaughlin’s counsel, expert testimony and evidence of her mental health experiences were never presented in the sentencing phase of the trial. “McLaughlin’s conviction and sentence remains after multiple, thorough examinations of Missouri law.

The Missouri Department of Corrections carried out its execution of Amber McLaughlin early Tuesday evening, making her the first openly transgender inmate ...

Amber McLaughlin, 49, was convicted of stalking and killing a former girlfriend, then dumping the body near the Mississippi River in St. Louis.

[Carman Deck was executed in May](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/carman-deck-execution-missouri-murders/) for killing James and Zelma Long during a robbery at their home in De Soto, Missouri. Heady was executed in the gas chamber, side by side with the other kidnapper and killer, Carl Austin Hall. The Army agreed to pay for hormone treatments for Manning in 2015. She won the lawsuit in 2018 and became a mentor to other transgender inmates, including McLaughlin. Perhaps the best-known case of a transgender prisoner seeking treatment was that of Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who served seven years in federal prison for leaking government documents to Wikileaks until President Barack Obama commuted the sentence in 2017. In 2015, the U.S. "If you ever talked to her, it was always with the dad jokes." Amber McLaughlin, 49, was convicted of stalking and killing a former girlfriend, then dumping the body near the Mississippi River in St. Komp said Missouri and Indiana are the only states that allow a judge to sentence someone to death. McLaughlin began transitioning about three years ago, according to Jessica Hicklin, who spent 26 years in prison for a drug-related killing before being released a year ago. It cited severe depression that resulted in multiple suicide attempts, both as a child and as an adult. McLaughlin began transitioning about three years ago at the state prison in Potosi.