An American woman sentenced to death for the murder of her former partner became the first transgender woman to be executed in US history on Tuesday. Amber McLaughlin, 49, also became the first person to be executed in 2023 in that country.

The American was injected with a lethal solution. She was pronounced dead at 6:51 pm (local time) at the Bon Terre Jail in Missouri.

He was convicted of a murder committed in 2003, prior to his gender reassignment. According to local media, he was held in the men’s wing of death row. She was convicted of killing her former partner in suburban St. Louis, Missouri.

McLaughlin could not stand their separation and harassed the victim to such an extent that her ex-girlfriend turned to the authorities and asked for steps to be taken to protect her.

However, on the day of the crime, McLaughlin ambushed her near her work, armed with a kitchen knife. He raped her, stabbed her and dumped the victim’s body near the Mississippi River.

At her trial in 2006, the jury found her guilty, but could not agree on a verdict. By decision of the judge, he was sentenced to death.

Missouri and Indiana are the only states where judges are allowed to impose death sentences if the jury cannot reach a unanimous decision on the punishment.

Referring to this feature, McLaughlin’s lawyers asked Republican Governor Mike Parsons to commute the sentence to life imprisonment, because it “reflected the will not of society, but only of the judge.” They also cited their director’s difficult childhood and his mental problems.

Many figures, including two Missouri congressmen, Corey Bush and Emmanuel Cleaver, supported the request.

Until yesterday, no openly transgender people had been executed in the country, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). However, the issue “gained attention in recent months, after the Ohio Supreme Court upheld Victoria Drain’s death sentence and Oregon commuted Tara Zeist’s sentence.” These are two other transsexuals.

Since being elected Governor of Missouri in 2018, Republican Mike Parson has not accepted any request for clemency or clemency for those on death row.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP.