U.S. authorities have reported that Amber McLaughlin was executed on Tuesday afternoon, becoming the first transgender woman to suffer the death penalty in the country after being charged with murder.
The Missouri Department of Corrections has indicated that «McLaughlin has been declared dead at 18.51 hours» (23.51 Spanish peninsular time), after being given a lethal injection.
In a final statement, according to NBC, McLaughlin «regretted» his actions, assuring that he was «a loving and caring person».
McLaughlin had been convicted in 2006 of rape and murder – crimes committed three years earlier – to Beverly Guenther, who was her ex-partner at the time.
The defendant had formally requested a pardon from Missouri Governor Mike Parson, claiming she suffers from brain damage and childhood trauma.
However, Parson assured that McLaughlin was a «violent criminal», indicating that the execution of the sentence «would do justice», since Guenther’s relatives «deserve peace».
Numerous political and civil society personalities called for McLaughlin’s execution to be annulled, recalling that she was abandoned by her mother, recurrently assaulted by her adoptive father and the protagonist of «multiple suicide attempts».
McLaughlin, who had not initiated any legal process to change her name or begin physical transit, had been held at the Potosi Correctional Center near St. Louis, an all-male facility.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
