US executes first transgender in Missouri for murder of ex-girlfriend

A transgender woman convicted of murdering a former girlfriend in Missouri became the first in the US to be executed when she received the lethal injection on Tuesday.

Shortly before transitioning, Amber McLaughlin, 49, was convicted of stalking, murdering, and disposing of a former girlfriend's body near the Mississippi River in St. Louis. Early on Tuesday, Republican governor Mike Parson rejected a clemency plea, sealing McLaughlin's fate.

According to the local news station Fox2now, while receiving the lethal injection of pentobarbital, McLaughlin spoke subtly with a spiritual advisor by her side. Apparently, McLaughlin took several deep breaths before closing her eyes.

According to a statement from the state prison department, she was declared dead a short while later, just before 7 o'clock local time, at the Diagnostic and Correctional Center in the Missouri town of Bonne Terre.

It was the first instance in the nation that a transgender individual of either sex had been executed for murder. Additionally, she becomes the first American to die of capital punishment this year in America.

In a last written statement, McLaughlin expressed her regret for what she had done. “I am sorry for what I did. I am a loving and caring person.”

According to court documents, McLaughlin continued to visit the 45-year-old Guenther's suburban St. Louis workplace after their relationship ended, occasionally lurking inside the building. Guenther obtained a restraining order, and occasionally police officers would accompany her to the vehicle after work.

The evening of November 20, 2003, McLaughlin waited for Guenther as she left work on the day of the murder. When she did not come home, her neighbours dialed the police. Officers arrived at the office building and discovered a broken knife handle next to her car as well as a blood trail.

She allegedly suffered many stab wounds from a steak knife after being raped, and her body was dumped near the Mississippi river.

In 2006, a jury found McLaughlin guilty of murder but was unable to decide how to punish her. The death penalty was subsequently imposed by the trial judge, a provision allowed in Missouri and Indiana.

Her lawyers then cited this fact to ask Governor Mike Parson to commute her sentence to life in prison.

Her attorneys argued in their clemency appeal that "the death sentence now being considered does not come from the conscience of the community, but from a single judge."

Additionally, they said that McLaughlin suffered mental health problems and had a troubled childhood.

She received some support from a select group of influential individuals, including Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver, two Missouri representatives in the US House of Representatives. They claimed that McLaughlin's adoptive father used to beat her with a baton and even taser her in a letter to the governor.

"Alongside this horrendous abuse, she was also silently struggling with her identity, grappling with what we now understand is gender dysphoria," the letter stated. People with this condition believe their gender identity and sex at birth do not match.

According to press accounts, McLaughlin started transitioning recently but had continued to be housed on the Missouri death row for males.