The Life and Death of Amber McLaughlin: First trans woman executed in US started transitioning in pr

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COLUMBIA, MISSOURI: Amber McLaughlin, a Missouri convict who was executed on Tuesday, January 3 for a 2003 murder, is thought to be the first transgender inmate to be put to death. McLaughlin, 49, also known as Scott, was executed 19 years after she was found guilty of killing and stalking her girlfriend Beverly Guenther, 45, before dumping her body in the Mississippi River in St Louis in 2003. 

McLaughlin was executed by lethal injection hours after Republican Governor Mike Parson denied clemency. 1,558 people have been put to death since the death penalty was revived in the middle of the 1970s, according to data on the website of the anti-execution Death Penalty Information Center. All but 17 of those executed were men. 

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According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there have never before been any known executions of openly transgender prisoners. McLaughlin started transitioning roughly three years ago in Potosi State Prison.

Her last message before closing eyes

 As the lethal dose of pentobarbital was given, McLaughlin spoke subtly with a spiritual advisor by her side. She took a few deep breaths and then closed her eyes. A few minutes later, she was declared dead. "I am sorry for what I did," McLaughlin stated in a last penned statement. "I am a loving and caring person," as reported by Associated Press.

Records citing diagnoses of gender dysphoria

McLaughlin's horrific background and mental health concerns, which the jury was not made aware of during her trial, were also mentioned in the clemency appeal. The clemency petition claimed that when she was a toddler, her foster parent wiped feces in her face and her adoptive father used a stun gun on her. It claims that she has a history of depression and has made several suicide attempts. The petition also contained records citing diagnoses of gender dysphoria, a disorder that results in suffering and other symptoms when a person's gender identity and the sex they were assigned at birth diverge. But according to her lawyer, Larry Komp, McLaughlin's sexual orientation was "not the main focus" of the clemency appeal. 

McLaughlin dated Beverly Guenther in 2003

As per reports, McLaughlin dated Beverly Guenther in 2003, years before she transitioned. According to court documents, after they broke up, McLaughlin frequently appeared at Guenther's 45-year-old suburban St Louis workplace while hiding in the building. Police officers occasionally escorted Guenther to her vehicle after work due to the restraining order she had received. 

Jessica Hicklin served as a mentor to McLaughlin 

According to Jessica Hicklin, who served 26 years in jail for a drug-related killing before being freed a year ago, McLaughlin started transitioning about three years ago. Hicklin, who is now 43, filed a lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections to contest a rule that forbade hormone therapy for prisoners who weren't receiving it prior to being imprisoned. She prevailed the lawsuit in 2018 and afterward served as a mentor to McLaughlin and other transgender prisoners.

'She always had a smile and a dad joke'

Hicklin stated that before making the decision to transition, McLaughlin was an agonizingly shy person. "She always had a smile and a dad joke," Hicklin stated. 'If you ever talked to her, it was always with the dad jokes."

First person put to death in US in 2023

In 2023, McLaughlin is the first person put to death in the United States. In 2022, 18 persons were executed in the US, including two Missouri convicts, Carpenter Deck and Kevin Johnson. Leonard Taylor, a prisoner in Missouri, will be put to death on February 7, as per News Week. 

'McLaughlin terrorized Guenther'

"McLaughlin terrorized Ms Guenther in the final years of her life, but we hope her family and loved ones may finally have some peace," said Republican Governor Mike Parson in a written statement after the execution.

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