Amber McLaughlin 49, was pronounced dead shortly before 7pm at the Diagnostic and Correctional Centre in the town of Bonne Terre, Missouri. McLaughlin died by lethal injection.
McLaughlin was the first transgender person of either sex to be executed in the country, and also the first person to die by capital punishment this year in America.
She was convicted of murdering a former girlfriend in 2003 before she transitioned. She'd stalked the victim to the point where a restraining order was sought.
On the day of the killing, McLaughlin waited for Beverly Guenther as she left work. Then raped and stabbed her to death with a kitchen knife and then dumped the body near the Mississippi river.
In 2006 a jury found McLaughlin guilty of murder but was deadlocked on what her punishment.
The trial judge stepped in and imposed the death penalty. Such intervention is allowed in states such as Missouri and Indiana.
Press reports said McLaughlin began gender transition in recent years but remained in the men’s section of death row in Missouri.
The Death Penalty Information Centre works to abolish such punishment in America. They claim there was no known previous case of an openly transgender person being executed in the United States.
Beverly was a pretty sensational person, by all accounts. This post does a great job of showing us what she was like and digging deeper into the crime. There are also some cool pics.
Beverly Guenther |
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