An American woman sentenced to death for the murder of her ex-partner became the first transgender woman to be executed in the United States on Tuesday.
Amber McLaughlin, 49, also became the first person to be executed in the country in 2023.
The American received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6:51 p.m. local time at Bonne Terre Prison, Missouri (central), according to a press release, of a murder committed in 2003 before her transfer. According to local media, she continued to be held on male death row.
Amber McLaughlin had killed his ex-partner in a suburb of Saint-Louis, the big city of Missouri.
She hadn’t supported their breakup and had been harassing her ever since, to the point that her ex-girlfriend had secured protective measures.
But on the day of the crime, Amber McLaughlin was waiting for her outside work with a kitchen knife and raped and then stabbed her before dumping her body near the Mississippi River, according to local media.
After her trial in 2006, the jury found her guilty of murder but could not reach a verdict. A judge then decided to retain the death penalty.
The states of Missouri and Indiana are the only ones that authorize their judges to hand down death sentences if the popular jury does not reach unanimity.
Because of this peculiarity, Amber McLaughlin’s attorneys asked Republican Gov. Mike Parson to commute her sentence to life in prison.
“The death penalty considered here does not reflect the conscience of the general public, but that of a single judge,” they write in their petition for clemency, which also refers to the difficult childhood and mental illnesses of their client.
Her proposal had the support of several figures, including two Missouri elected to the US Congress, Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver.
In a letter addressed to the governor, they recalled the child abuse in his adoptive family. “Alongside this horrific abuse, she has been quietly grappling with issues of gender identity…” they wrote.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), which refers to it, no openly transgender person has yet been executed in the United States, “but the issue[had]attention in recent months with the affirmation of the Ohio Supreme Court’s death sentence aroused drainage and transformation of Tara Zyst in Oregon, two transgender women”.
Since his election, Governor Mike Parson has not accepted any clemency petitions presented to him.