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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: DNA hearing set in Skinner case

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An evidentiary hearing in the Hank Skinner case has been scheduled for Feb. 3 and 4 in 31st District Court, Texas Attorney General’s Office spokesman Tom Kelley said.

The hearing concerns DNA evidence that Skinner told the Texas Tribune will show someone else likely committed a 1993 triple murder.

Kelley declined to comment further on the case, but lawyers with the AG’s office previously told the Texas Tribune that the results reinforce Skinner’s guilt.

A Tarrant County jury in 1995 convicted Skinner of capital murder in the 1993 murders of Twila Busby, 40, and her sons, Elwin “Scooter” Caler, 22, and Randy Busby, 20, at their Pampa home. They were strangled, beaten or stabbed, prosecutors said.

In November 2011, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted Skinner’s execution for the third time since 1995 to consider how changes to the state’s post-conviction DNA law would affect his requests for testing. Prosecutors agreed to allow the testing in June 2012, and lawyers received tests results Aug. 6 from hairs found on Busby’s hands.

Source: Amarillo Globe News, December 18, 2013
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