On Tuesday, Amber McLaughlin was executed for a 2003 murder in Missouri after her request for clemency from the governor failed. McLaughlin is now the first known openly transgender person to be executed in the US.
The Missouri Department of Corrections released a statement on McLaughlin’s execution, saying she was “ pronounced dead at 6:51 p.m.”
In a final statement from McLaughlin, released by the department, she wrote, “I am sorry for what I did. I am a loving & caring person.”
The 49-year-old and her attorneys had petitioned Gov. Mike Parson (R) for clemency asking to commute the death sentence. They argued that a jury could not agree on the death penalty, and McLaughin had shown genuine remorse for the murder two decades prior.
However, Parson’s office released a statement on Tuesday saying the execution would continue and that the family of the victim, Beverly Guenther, “deserved peace.”
The execution of McLaughlin, which was the first execution in the US this year, is rare for a number of reasons.
Prior to McLaughlin’s death, there had been only 17 women put to death in the US since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated by the US Supreme Court, the Death Penalty Information Center shared in a release.
The organization also confirmed that McLaughlin’s execution was the first in the US of an openly transgender person.
McLaughlin was convicted and sentenced to death for Guenther’s November 2003 murder, court documents show. The two had been in a relationship but were separated at the time of the killing. Guether had also received an order for protection against McLaughlin after she burglarized Guenther’s home.
Attorney’s argued during trial that weeks after the order was granted, McLaughlin waited for Guenther outside their workplace before stabbing Guenther multiple times and raping them.
The trial resulted in McLaughlin being found guilty of first-degree murder, forcible rape and armed criminal action.
While the jury was not unanimous in handing McLaughlin the death penalty, she received it nonetheless, and Parson decided to uphold that decision on Tuesday.
While announcing that the state would carry out McLaughlin’s sentence, Parson said it would “deliver justice” for Guenther and their loved ones.
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