Missouri’s governor says the state will carry out Tuesday evening’s execution of a convicted murderer.
Scott McLaughlin was sentenced to death for raping and killing 45-year-old Beverly Guenther as she left work in Earth City in November 2003. Scott McLaughlin is now Amber McLaughlin, a transgender woman. Governor Mike Parson says McLaughlin’s conviction and sentence remains after multiple, thorough examinations of Missouri law.
“McLaughlin stalked, raped and murdered Ms. Guenther. McLaughlin is a violent criminal. Ms. Guenther’s family and loved ones deserve peace,” the governor says in part, in a written statement.
Governor Parson says Guenther was terrorized for months, before the killing.
U.S. Reps. Cori Bush (D-St. Louis) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-Kansas City) had called on the governor to block the execution. Congresswoman Bush describes the death penalty as cruel, barbaric and inhumane.
The Associated Press (AP) says more than 1,500 people have been executed nationwide since 1977, and that there’s never been a case of an openly transgender inmate being executed.
