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First transgender woman on death row asks for mercy just days before her scheduled execution

Columbia, Missouri – After spending the past 19 years in prison, 49-year-old Amber McLaughlin‘s execution date draws closer. Serving a death sentence for the 2003 murder of 49-year-old Beverly Guenther. McLaughlin was accused of raping and stabbing Guenther to death.

During McLaughlin’s trial, the jury couldn’t decide on life in prison or the death penalty, so the judge stepped in and sentenced her to death. In 2016, a federal judge ordered a new hearing, but later in 2021 the death penalty was later reinstated by a court panel.

Now McLaughlin’s fate is in the hands of Governor Mike Parson. McLaughlin’s court-appointed attorneys are meeting with Governor Parson next week to discuss the matter.

Larry Komp, one of the attorneys for McLaughlin shared, “It’s wrong when anyone’s executed regardless, but I hope that this is a first that doesn’t occur. Amber has shown great courage in embracing who she is as a transgender woman in spite of the potential for people reacting with hate, so I admire her display of courage.”

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