The plea for clemency
Defense attorneys had petitioned Missouri Gov. Mike Parson for clemency, asking him to commute the sentence to life imprisonment, in part because they had been sentenced to death by a single judge in St. Louis County. against a no by the jury.
Traumatic childhood and health problems
Missouri, they explain, is one of only two states, along with Indiana, that allows trial judges to hand down death sentences in deadlocked juries. The clemency plea focused on several elements, including McLaughlin’s traumatic childhood and mental health issues brought on by a series of abuses that left her suffering from depression and multiple suicide attempts.
The murder
In 2003, McLaughin had an affair with 45-year-old Beverly Guenther: After torturing the woman for months, he stabbed her and hid the body. McLaughin’s “transition” took place in prison in 2016 after a second trial against him upheld his death sentence for first-degree murder.