Amber McLaughlina trans woman, was executed this Tuesday in USA for a 2003 murder, and became the first person openly from this group to face the death penalty in that country.
McLaughlin, who began her gender transition about three years ago in prison, was given a lethal injection Tuesday night in the state of missouriafter the governor of that area of the country, the Republican Mike Parsonwill reject your request for clemency.
The trans woman, who before she began her transition was known as Scott McLaughlinwas pronounced dead at 6:00 pm (local time) on Tuesday, according to information from the state department of prisons.
McLaughlin, who was 49, was convicted of the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend Beverly Guenther in 2003, in the county St. Louisand its execution was also the first of the year in the North American country.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a group that opposes death penalty executions, there is no other documented case of a trans man or woman being executed in the United States.
Although there were several organizations like Missourian for Alternative to the Death Penalty who opposed the execution of the trans woman, the state governor decided to stick with the decision to execute her, as he assured that “McLaughlin stalked, raped, and murdered Guenther. She is a violent criminal. The family and loved ones of the woman murdered in 2003 deserve peace.”
For their part, the lawyers McLaughlin had made a clemency petition to Parson on December 12, begging him to commute the sentence. to life in prison, emphasizing that the jury that found her guilty failed to reach a decision on sentencing.
This because Missouri and Indiana are the only two states where the law allows that the judge who presided over the process impose the death penalty in the case of a hung jury. However, Governor Parson stated that McLaughlin’s conviction and sentence stood and would be carried out, as it ultimately was.
Michelle Smithco-director of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, told the newspaper The Kansas City Star that this variant makes Missouri “an extreme case that reeks of injustice.”
In their clemency petition, McLaughlin’s lawyers claimed that she was abused as a child, and suffered from an intellectual disability that was never mentioned during the trial. However, despite all the allegations, the woman became the first trans person to be sentenced to death in the United States.
Amber McLaughlin had petitioned the governor of Missouri to give her a life sentence instead of a death execution. This request she was denied. PHOTO: TAKEN FROM @TruthPuke’s TWITTER