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Amber McLaughlin, 49, is the first transgender woman to receive the death penalty in the United States. She is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, via lethal injection at a detention facility in Bonne Terre, Missouri.
She was arrested for stalking, assaulting, and stabbing to death her ex-girlfriend, Beverly Guenther, 45, on November 20, 2003. In June 2006, McLaughlin was convicted of first-degree murder and r*pe.
Amber McLaughlin and her lawyers' appeal for clemency to Missouri Governor Mike Parson on the grounds of her traumatic childhood and mental health has been denied. In a press release hours prior to the sentence, the governor's office stated that "McLaughlin is a violent criminal" and that the conviction and sentence remain after "multiple, thorough examinations of Missouri law."
The press release further added:
"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."
Amber McLaughlin's death penalty was reinstated in 2021
Amber McLaughlin, then known as Scott McLaughlin, had a turbulent relationship with Beverly Guenther. According to court records, McLaughlin would show up unannounced at Guenther's office in St. Louis and even hide inside the building sometimes.
Guenther procured a restraining order against McLaughlin after expressing fear for her safety and was also occasionally escorted to her car after work by the police.
On November 20, 2003, Beverly Guenther's neighbors contacted the police when she didn't return home. In their search of Guenther's office, cops found a trail of blood and a broken knife handle near her car. Officers were led by McLaughlin the next day to a location near the Mississippi River in St. Louis where the body had been disposed of.
Amber McLaughlin was convicted in 2006 of kidnapping Guenther from work and fatally stabbing her.
Missouri is one of two states in the US where a judge can impose the death penalty in the absence of a decision by the jury. As the jury deadlocked on whether to sentence McLaughlin to life without parole or with the death penalty, the judge presiding over the case sentenced Amber McLaughlin to death.
McLaughlin has been in prison for 20 years and transitioned during her incarceration. In 2016, a federal district court ordered another hearing and overturned the death sentence, but it was reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in 2021.
Additionally, she is listed as a registered s**ual offender for assaulting a 14-year-old in 1992.
McLaughlin's lawyers argued that her past trauma affected her mental health and her actions
McLaughlin's lawyers stated in their 27-page clemency petition to Missouri Governor Mike Parson that Amber McLaughlin "never had a chance," raising concerns that traumatic childhood, brain damage, and fetal alcohol syndrome had all contributed to her poor mental health and horrific actions.
They noted that this context was not addressed properly in the trial. Further, they argued that the death sentence be reconsidered as the decision was not made by the jury.
The petition stated:
"The death sentence now being considered does not come from the conscience of the community — but from a single judge. An act of executive clemency therefore will not encroach on the reverence of jury verdicts and, in fact, will more accurately reflect the jury’s wishes regarding punishment since it did not vote for death."
Amber McLaughlin's lawyers asserted that their client has been failed by various institutions since childhood. They brought up her traumatic experiences in the foster care system, including incidents of having feces rubbed in her face as a toddler and having a stun gun used on her by an adoptive father.
Amber McLaughlin will be the second woman to face the death penalty in Missouri since 1953 and the only transgender woman in the US to do so.
