Judges Play God Under Missouri Death Penalty Law

You don’t have to be a death penalty opponent to feel disturbed by a system that lets the judge play executioner.

But that’s essentially what happened to Amber McLaughlin, who was put to death last night by the state of Missouri. Though the headlines blared that McLaughlin was the first transgender woman to be executed in the US, far more significant—and outrageous—is that a trial judge in St. Louis unilaterally decided her fate, making a mockery of the judicial system.

In 2006, a jury convicted McLaughlin—then known as Scott McLaughlin—of murder, but deadlocked on the penalty. Under Missouri law, a ...