“I am sorry for what I did. I am a loving and caring person”Amber McLaughlin wrote in her final statement according to CNN.
Shortly after 8:00 pm Tuesday night, she was pronounced dead by the Missouri State Department of Corrections.
In addition to being the first performed on a transgender person, McLaughlin’s execution is also the first of the year in the United States.
Only 17 women since the 70s
It was in 2006 that McLaughlin was sentenced to death for murder. Subsequently, he wrote to Governor Mike Parson in an attempt to commute the death sentence.
She was denied a pardon even though she and her lawyers cited mental illness, the effects of childhood trauma and intellectual disability. The victim’s family and relatives need peace, says the governor’s response, confirming the sentence.
The execution is unusual in several ways. Only 17 women have been executed in the United States since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated after a brief hiatus.
Beat the ex to death
McLaughlin allegedly waited for ex-girlfriend Beverly Guenther outside her job one evening in 2003, where he stabbed and raped her.
Before the couple broke up, the 49-year-old had received a restraining order against his girlfriend after she, among other things, broke into his home.
Guenther’s body was later found in the Mississippi River, according to ABC News.
The jury disagreed that McLaughlin should be sentenced to death, but the judge ended up making the final decision.
