The first openly transgender woman on death row is set to be executed on Tuesday for raping and murdering her ex-girlfriend whose body she dumped by a Missouri river.
Amber McLaughlin, 49, who transitioned in prison, will die by lethal injection 19 years after she killed Beverly Guenther, 45, who had taken out a restraining order and regularly had police officers walk her to her car out of fear for her life.
The execution is set to be the first death of a transgender person in the U.S. Before transitioning in 2019, she went by the name Scott McLaughlin.
It comes less than a month after the inmate asked Missouri Governor Mike Parson to spare her from death due to ‘mental health issues.’ The execution is set to be the first death of a transgender person in the U.S. Before transitioning in 2019, she went by the name Scott McLaughlin.
It comes less than a month after the inmate asked Missouri Governor Mike Parson to spare her from death due to ‘mental health issues.’
The execution is set to be the first death of a transgender person in the U.S. Before transitioning in 2019, she went by the name Scott McLaughlin.
It comes less than a month after the inmate asked Missouri Governor Mike Parson to spare her from death due to ‘mental health issues.’
McLaughlin killed Guenther on November 20, 2003 and dumped her body in St. Louis, near the Mississippi River.
Formerly Scott, McLaughlin was sentenced to death by a judge in 2006 as a persistent offender to consecutive terms of death for first degree murder, life for armed criminal action, and life for forcible rape.
‘It’s wrong when anyone’s executed regardless, but I hope that this is a first that doesn’t occur,’ federal public defender Larry Komp, who represents McLaughlin, said.
Komp said Monday there are no court appeals pending but they are hoping Gov. Parson grants clemency after a petition was filed in December.
