First Openly Transgender Woman Was Executed By Lethal Injection
By NBC News
Amber McLaughlin, the first openly transgender woman to be executed in the U.S., died by lethal injection Tuesday night in Missouri.
McLaughlin was pronounced dead at 6:51 p.m. at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.
She was convicted of first-degree murder in 2006 in the killing of Beverly Guenther, and a judge sentenced her to death after the jury deadlocked on its sentencing decision. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson denied clemency Tuesday after advocates expressed concern over her sentencing.
“McLaughlin is a violent criminal,” Parson said in a statement Tuesday. “Ms. Guenther’s family and loved ones deserve peace. The State of Missouri will carry out McLaughlin’s sentence according to the Court’s order and deliver justice.”
McLaughlin spoke quietly with a spiritual adviser at her side as the fatal dose of pentobarbital was injected. McLaughlin breathed heavily a couple of times, then shut her eyes. She was pronounced dead a few minutes later.
“I am sorry for what I did,” McLaughlin said in a final, written, statement. “I am a loving and caring person.”
McLaughlin was in a relationship with Guenther before her transition, but Guenther obtained a restraining order after McLaughlin showed up multiple times at her workplace.
Officers found a broken knife handle near Guenther’s car and a trail of blood at her office building on the night of Nov. 20, 2003, after her neighbors reported that Guenther had not returned home. McLaughlin later led police to a location near the Mississippi River in St. Louis where Guenther’s body had been dumped.
The state was ordered to give McLaughlin a new sentencing in 2016, but a federal appeals court panel reinstated the death penalty in 2021.
