First US Execution of Transgender Woman Set in Missouri

Federal Public Defender Office via AP

The first execution of an openly transgender woman in U.S. history is set to take place Tuesday in Missouri, barring a granting of clemency from Gov. Mike Parson.

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Amber McLaughlin, 49, is scheduled to die by lethal injection for the murder of a former girlfriend in 2003.

McLaughlin’s attorney has filed for clemency, citing McLaughlin’s traumatic childhood and mental health issues — which he claimed were never mentioned in McLaughlin’s trial.

Amber McLaughlin

According to reports and records, McLaughlin was issued a restraining order after a former girlfriend broke up with him. The girlfriend even sometimes had police escort her from her office to the car. Eventually, she was found murdered in her office. A broken knife handle and a trail of the woman’s blood were found near McLaughlin’s car.

One day later, McLaughlin led police to a location near the Mississippi River, where the body had been dumped. A federal judge sentenced McLaughlin to death after a jury deadlocked on the sentence.

“A court in 2016 ordered a new sentencing hearing, but a federal appeals court panel reinstated the death penalty in 2021,” ABC News reported.

Eighteen people were executed nationwide in 2022, including two in Missouri. Only one woman has ever been executed in the state — Bonnie B. Heady, in 1953.

Read More: Do You Remember When ‘Golden Girls’ Featured A Transgender Politician Sex Scandal

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