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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.

Arkansas: Neither of 2 to die apply for clemency

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Neither of the 2 death-row inmates scheduled for execution in October requested clemency before the Monday deadline, said state Parole Board administrator Solomon Graves.

Bruce Ward and Don Davis -- who are set to die by lethal injection on Oct. 21 -- had until noon Monday to ask the state Parole Board to recommend to Gov. Asa Hutchinson that they be granted clemency, which can be either total forgiveness for the crime or a reduction of the criminal penalty.

Under the state's protocol, the state Parole Board must first review the application and then make a recommendation to the governor to either approve or deny the request. The governor is not obligated to follow the board's decision.

Both men, as well as 6 other death-row inmates, have exhausted all standard appeals. The execution dates have been scheduled for all 8 men over the next 4 months.

A lawsuit filed in June in Pulaski County Circuit Court by all eight men asking the prison system to disclose the source of its execution drugs is still pending. Jeff Rosenzweig, an attorney for all 8 men, has said that he will ask the court to delay the executions.

Ward, 58, is also seeking a review by the U.S. Supreme Court after a February Arkansas Supreme Court ruling that affirmed his death sentence. A case conference is set for Sept. 28.

Ward was convicted of strangling to death 18-year-old Little Rock convenience-store clerk Rebecca Doss on Aug. 11, 1989.

Davis, 52, was sentenced to death for the Oct. 12, 1990, execution-style shooting of 62-year-old Jane Daniels during a robbery in Rogers.

Source: arkansasonline.com, Sept. 23, 2015

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Location: Arkansas, USA
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