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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.

Florida executes Johnny Shane Kormondy

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Johnny Shane Kormondy
Johnny Shane Kormondy
A Pensacola man convicted of murder and rape was executed at Florida State Prison in Starke on Thursday.

Johnny Shane Kormondy was pronounced dead at 8:16 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison, shortly after the lethal injection was administered.

The execution was delayed by two hours by a late appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court that was eventually denied.

According to McKinley Lewis, Florida Department of Corrections press secretary, about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, death row inmate Johnny Shane Kormondy had his last meal, which included fried alligator tail, fried shrimp, fried okra, vanilla ice cream, a cream soda, hashbrowns and fried eggs.

Johnny Shane Kormondy, 42, had been sentenced to die of lethal injection for the 1993 murder of Gary McAdams.

Kormondy and 2 accomplices assailed McAdams and his wife as the couple were returning from a high school reunion.

The trio forced their way into the couple's home, pulled the phone cords from the walls, sexually assaulted McAdams' wife multiple times and shot McAdams in the back of the head.

Kormondy - who allegedly was the mastermind behind the attack - was convicted and sentenced to death in 1994. He was granted a retrial in 1997 because of an error during his original trial. A new jury convicted Kormondy in 1999, and he was again sentenced to death.

The 2 co-defendants in the case, Curtis Buffkin and Johnny Hazen, currently are serving life sentences for their roles in the crime.

Kormondy becomes the 21st inmate executed under Gov. Rick Scott, tying him with former Gov. Jeb Bush for the most executions since the death penalty was reinstated in Florida in 1979.

Kormondy becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Florida and the 90th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1979; only Texas (518), Oklahoma (111), and Virginia (110) have executed more individuals since the death penalty was re-legalized in the USA on July 2, 1976.

Kormondy becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1397th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Sources: Pensacola News Journal, Agencies, Rick Halperin, January 15, 2015

Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com
Location: Florida, USA
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