Pointing to ‘flaw’ in Missouri death penalty, judges ask to stop woman’s execution

Seven retired Missouri judges have urged Gov. Mike Parson to stop the execution of Amber McLaughlin, arguing that the death penalty was handed down “via a flaw in Missouri’s capital sentencing scheme.”

McLaughlin, a 49-year-old transgender woman, was convicted of killing her ex-girlfriend in St. Louis County in 2003.

In her 2006 murder trial, the jury could not reach a decision on sentencing and rejected three of the aggravating circumstances prosecutors presented in arguing for the death penalty.

The judge handed down the death sentence. Missouri and Indiana are the only two states that allow a judge to impose capital punishment when a jury cannot make a decision.

In a letter sent to Parson last week, the seven judges, who served across the state including in Jackson and Clay counties, said the trial judge relied on those aggravating circumstances rejected by the jury.

“The trial judge made his own findings contrary to the will of the jury, which runs squarely against the fundamental principles of our justice system,” the group of judges wrote in the letter published by Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

The judges also said McLaughlin’s trial attorney failed to present evidence about her mental health and brain damage which “would have resulted in a life recommendation.”

The group urged Parson to commute McLaughlin’s death sentence to life without the possibility of parole “to reflect the conscience of the community that refused to recommend” the death penalty.

The group includes former Jackson County judges Jon R. Gray, John R. O’Malley and Robert Schieber; former Boone and Calloway counties Judge Gary Oxenhandler; former Court of Appeals and City of St. Louis Judge Lisa VanAmburg; former Clay County Judge David W. Russell and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri Michael A. Wolff.

Last week, attorneys for McLaughlin sent Parson a clemency petition. It noted the unilateral decision by the judge to impose the death penalty and also said McLaughlin has a borderline intellectual disability and is remorseful.

Parson’s office said Wednesday that clemency applications are sent to the parole board for review and then to the governor’s legal team.

“These are not decisions that the Governor takes lightly, and the process is underway as it relates to the execution scheduled for January,” said Kelli Jones, Parson’s spokesperson.

McLaughlin is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Jan. 3. If it goes forward, she will be the first transgender woman to die by execution in the U.S. and the first person to be executed in 2023.

A second execution next year in Missouri is scheduled for Feb. 7.

Missouri is one of six states that executed prisoners in 2022. Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Alabama and Mississippi also had executions this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.