Missouri Convict Set to Become First Openly Transgender Woman Executed in U.S.

A Missouri convict is set to become the first openly transgender woman to be executed in the United States unless she is granted clemency.

Amber McLaughlin, 49, is set to be executed by lethal injection in Missouri on Tuesday for the 2003 murder of her ex-girlfriend.

According to Larry Komp, McLaughlin's attorney, no court appeals have been pending. The bid for clemency will only be successful if authorized by Missouri's Republican governor Mike Parson.

Kelli Jones, the governor's spokesperson, said the clemency request is still being reviewed.

According to Al Jazeera, the request delves into several issues, including McLaughlin's traumatic early years and mental health problems, which the jury was unaware of during her trial.

The clemency petition noted that a foster parent put feces in her face when the petitioner was a child, and her adoptive father used a stun gun on her.

It resulted in McLaughlin suffering from depression, and she even tried to take her own life several times.

The petition also includes reports citing a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, a condition characterized by emotional distress and anxiety when there is a conflict between a person's gender identity and assigned sex at birth.

"We think Amber has demonstrated incredible courage because I can tell you, there's a lot of hate when it comes to that issue," Komp noted on Monday.

However, he added that his client's sexual identity was "not the main focus" of the clemency request.

Missouri Convict Amber McLaughlin Case

Amber McLaughlin has only transitioned while in prison. She was reportedly known as Scott McLaughlin at the time of trial and conviction.

The anti-execution Death Penalty Information Center said there is no known case of an openly transgender inmate being executed in the U.S. prior to this.

Before the murder, McLaughlin was in a relationship with Beverly Guenther, 45. However, after they broke up, McLaughlin sometimes showed up at her office in St. Louis and hid inside the building.

According to court documents, Guenther decided to get a restraining order, and police sometimes escorted her to her car after work.

Guenther's neighbors alerted the police on the evening of November 20, 2003, when she did not return home. When police went to Guenther's workplace, they found a trail of blood near her car and a broken knife handle.

The following day, McLaughlin led police to an area on the Mississippi River in St. Louis, where the body of Guenther had been dumped. Guenther was reportedly raped and stabbed to death.

After a lengthy trial, AP reported that McLaughlin was convicted of first-degree murder in 2006 and was sentenced to death after a jury deadlocked on the sentence.

Fox News reported that a court ordered a new sentencing hearing in the same year, but a federal appeals court panel reinstated the death sentence in 2021.

Another Missouri Convict Faces Death Penalty

Leonard Taylor, another Missouri convict, is set to be executed on February 7 for the murder of his girlfriend and her three small children, according to CBS News.

In 2022, 18 people across the country were put to death by lethal injection. Kevin Johnson was executed on November 29 for the ambush murder of a police officer in Kirkwood, Missouri.

In May, Carmen Deck was put to death for a house robbery that resulted in the deaths of James and Zelma Long in De Soto, Missouri.

Bonnie Heady, who kidnapped and murdered a 6-year-old boy, was the only woman to be hanged in Missouri. She was executed on December 18, 1953.

Heady and another abductor and murderer, Carl Austin Hall, were both put to death in the gas chamber.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Clemency Is Last Chance for Amber McLaughlin, Attorney Says - From FOX 2 St. Louis