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Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

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Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Texas poised to execute 500th prisoner as lawyers fight to save her life

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Kimberly McCarthy
Lawyers in Texas are fighting to save the life of a female prisoner scheduled to become the 500th person to be executed by the state since the death penalty was reinstated in America in 1976.

Barring a last-minute stay, Kimberly McCarthy, 52, will face lethal injection next Wednesday for the 1997 murder of her neighbour. Should the execution be carried out, she would be the 500th person put to death by Texas, a state that has shown more enthusiasm in modern times for capital punishment than any other.

The next seven days will be the culmination of an emotional and legal rollercoaster for McCarthy. This is her third appointment with the death chamber in the space of five months.

"She is a very spiritual person. She believes what's meant to be is meant to be, and it's all in God's hands," said Maurie Levin, McCarthy's legal counsel since January.

Now Levin has filed a new motion to stay execution with the Texas court of criminal appeals. The filing argues that McCarthy has suffered from two fundamental flaws that persistently crop up in death penalty cases.

"As it turns out, Kimberly McCarthy is an African American woman scheduled to be the 500th person to be executed in Texas. Her case raises two of the most typical issues in the administration of the death penalty: race discrimination and the quality of counsel," Levin told the Guardian.


Source: The Guardian, June 21, 2013
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