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amber mclaughlin
26 Dems in Congress Urge DOJ to Continue Moratorium on Federal Executions
The lawmakers asserted that "there are serious concerns about arbitrariness in the application of the death penalty, the disparate impact of the death penalty on people of color, and the alarming number of exonerations of individuals previously sentenced to death."
Jan 04, 2023
Arguing that "the death penalty is cruel, racist, and fundamentally unjust," U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley on Tuesday led over two dozen congressional Democrats in calling on the Biden administration to continue its 18-month pause on federal executions.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland spearheaded by Pressley (D-Mass.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbn (D-Ill.), 26 Democratic members of Congress urged the Biden administration to rescind a series of Trump-era amendments that expanded execution methods, allowed the Justice Department to skip important regulatory steps while pursuing federal executions, and made state prisons and personnel available for federal executions, among other changes.
"The death penalty is archaic, barbaric, and cold-hearted; it destroys families and communities, and its abolition is long overdue."
The 2020 amendments "were adopted in the middle of an alarming rush of executions by the previous administration," the letter states. "Ending a 17-year moratorium on the federal death penalty, the prior administration executed 12 men and one woman in the space of six months—exceeding the number of individuals who had been executed under the federal death penalty over the prior seven decades."
The lawmakers contended that the amendments were "promulgated by an outgoing administration in the middle of a surge of executions" and "were clearly part of an effort to facilitate that surge, and as such the amendments as a whole are so irreparably tainted that they should not remain in place."
\u201cThe death penalty is cruel, racist, and fundamentally unjust.\n\nThat's why\u00a0@SenatorDurbin\u00a0& I want\u00a0@TheJusticeDept\u00a0to keep in place the moratorium on federal executions & work with us to abolish the death penalty once and for all.\u201d— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley) 1672863557
"Last year, we commended you for your decision to impose a moratorium on federal executions while the current review of death penalty policies and procedures is pending," the lawmakers wrote. "As your memorandum announcing the moratorium recognized, there are serious concerns about arbitrariness in the application of the death penalty, the disparate impact of the death penalty on people of color, and the alarming number of exonerations of individuals previously sentenced to death."
"These concerns justified halting the use of the death penalty during the review process. They equally support halting its use permanently," the Democrats added. "In addition to rescinding the November 27, 2020 amendments, we urge you to keep in place the current moratorium on federal executions, including withdrawing all pending death notices and authorizing no new death notices. The time for this action has come."
While President Joe Biden campaigned on a
promise "work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level," his administration's Justice Department disappointed progressives by seeking to kill convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Tuesday's letter came on the same day that the state of Missouri killed Amber McLaughlin by lethal injection after Republican Gov. Mike Parson showed no mercy despite McLaughlin's lifelong history of trauma and mental health issues and the fact that the jury that convicted her of murdering and raping her ex-girlfriend Beverly Guenther in 2003 did not unanimously agree that she should be executed.
Reacting to the execution of the first openly transgender person in U.S. history, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) said in a statement that "Amber McLaughlin was killed by state-sanctioned, inhumane capital punishment."
\u201cRead my full statement here: https://t.co/qQo1ovlfRX\u201d— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@Congresswoman Cori Bush) 1672862088
"My heart is with her family and loved ones," Bush continued. "I yearn for the day when our society acknowledges that state-sanctioned murder will never achieve justice. Gov. Parson has once again failed his mandate as governor to save lives. He has actively chosen violence over mercy and as a result, only three days into the new year, our state has killed yet another person."
"The death penalty is archaic, barbaric, and cold-hearted; it destroys families and communities, and its abolition is long overdue," she added. "There are more individuals who are set to be scheduled by the state of Missouri. We must not allow another life to be taken."
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Cori Bush, Emanuel Cleaver Implore Missouri Gov. to Prevent Execution of Amber McLaughlin
"The death penalty is cruel, barbaric, and inhumane," Bush wrote on Twitter.
Dec 27, 2022
Democratic Reps. Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri sent a letter Tuesday urging their home state's Republican governor to prevent the execution of 49-year-old Amber McLaughlin and commute her sentence, pointing to the "horrific abuse and neglect" she has experienced over the course of her life.
McLaughlin was convicted in 2006 of raping and killing an ex-girlfriend, Beverly Guenther. After the jury failed to reach a decision on whether McLaughlin should face death or life in prison without parole, the trial judge exploited a legal loophole and unilaterally imposed a death sentence—a move that has drawn criticism from former Missouri judges.
If the January 3, 2023 execution goes ahead as planned, McLaughlin would be the first openly trans woman to be executed in the United States.
In their letter, Bush and Cleaver noted that McLaughlin "faced a traumatic childhood and mental health issues throughout her life."
"Court records indicate her adoptive father would frequently strike her with paddles and a nightstick, and even tase her. Alongside this horrendous abuse, she was also silently struggling with her identity, grappling with what we now understand is gender dysphoria," the lawmakers wrote. "The abuse, coupled with the persistent mental turmoil surrounding her identity, led to mild neurological brain damage and multiple suicide attempts both as a child and as an adult."
"Yet at the sentencing phase of Ms. McLaughlin's trial, the jury never heard crucial mental health evidence because her lawyers failed to present it. A psychiatrist was set to testify and provide expert insight into Ms. McLaughlin’s mental health at the time of the offense before her lawyers decided not to call him as a witness," Bush and Cleaver continued. "The lawyers had previously told the jury that this expert testimony would be a critical component in their decision, but the testimony was withheld and the jury deliberated without highly relevant information."
Bush made clear on social media that her effort to prevent McLaughlin's execution stems from her principled opposition to the death penalty, which she described as "cruel, barbaric, and inhumane."
\u201cMissouri plans to execute Amber McLaughlin next week. The death penalty is cruel, barbaric, and inhumane.\n\n@RepCleaver and I are urging @GovParsonMO to grant #ClemencyForAmber.\u201d— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@Congresswoman Cori Bush) 1672166324
Earlier this month, McLaughlin's lawyers filed a clemency petition urging Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to intervene and stop the planned execution, laying out in detail the abuse she faced as a child.
"McLaughlin developed in a womb poisoned by alcohol and she has borne the lifetime effects of fetal alcohol exposure," the petition reads. "This prenatal assault signaled the start of a path of trauma and neglect that would become the rule for McLaughlin’s life. McLaughlin faced an environment with parents ill-equipped to act as caregivers. Trauma, neglect, and abuse at the hands of her parents occurred from birth—until she was abandoned by her mother and placed into the foster care system. At one placement, McLaughlin had feces thrust into her face. The foster care placement was so bad, McLaughlin wanted to return to an abusive mother who neglected her."
The petition argues McLaughlin's execution should be called off for a number of "compelling reasons," including the fact that "executive clemency will not disturb a jury verdict imposing the death penalty because the jury did not vote to impose the death penalty."
"Second, McLaughlin consistently and genuinely expressed remorse for the death of Ms. Beverly Guenther. She remains tormented by memories of her death," the petition states. "Third, McLaughlin endured extensive childhood trauma at the hands of her biological, foster, and adoptive parents, abuse resulting in brain damage even before McLaughlin was born. Those with a moral duty to protect her wantonly inflicted this childhood abuse."
A spokesperson for Parson told NBC News earlier this month that the governor is reviewing the clemency request.
The United States, which recently voted against a United Nations resolution condemning the death penalty, had the most botched executions in its history in 2022, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
"Seven of the 20 execution attempts were visibly problematic—an astonishing 35%—as a result of executioner incompetence, failures to follow protocols, or defects in the protocols themselves," the organization noted in its year-end report. "On July 28, 2022, executioners in Alabama took three hours to set an IV line before putting Joe James Jr. to death, the longest botched lethal injection execution in U.S. history."
Bush has urged President Joe Biden to grant clemency to all federal death row inmates as a step toward ending capital punishment nationwide. Biden, who says he is personally opposed to the death penalty, has yet to heed Bush's call.
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