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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 Supreme Court removes 2 killers from death row

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Florida's death chamber
Florida's death chamber
The Florida Supreme Court is ordering that two murderers be removed from death row and sentenced to life.

The court issued its ruling Thursday, reducing the sentences of men convicted of unrelated double-murders in Polk County and Jacksonville.

Robert McCloud was convicted of the October 2009 murders of Tamiqa Taylor and Dustin Freeman during a drug robbery committed in Poinciana. 

The court ruled that he shouldn't have been sentenced to death when three co-defendants received lesser sentences — especially since a jury determined McCloud wasn't the shooter.

Terrance Phillips was convicted of the December 2009 murders of Mateo Hernandez-Perez and Reynaldo Antunes-Padilla in Jacksonville. 

The court considered the fact that Phillips was 18 at the time of the crime and borderline intellectually disabled in reducing his sentence.

Source: The Associated Press, November 17, 2016

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