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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.

Motion requesting unanimous vote for death penalty denied by judge

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Jury box
A Houston County Judge denied a motion to request prohibition of the death penalty without a unanimous jury vote.

Defense attorneys David Hogg and Robert Aaron Gartlan filed the motion May 3 for their client, Michael Allen Tharp. 

State’s Attorney Mark Jones filed a motion stating the Code of Alabama 1975 13A-5-46 (f) clearly sets forth that a jury recommendation of death must be based on a vote of at least 10 jurors and the verdict must be in writing specify the vote.

Judge Kevin Moulton denied the motion request for a unanimous vote for the death penalty Monday. 

Tharp’s jury trial is set to begin Aug. 27.

Tharp previously pleaded not guilty by mental disease. A mental evaluation was ordered, and in November 2017 Moulton issued an order finding Tharp competent to stand trial.

Houston County Sheriff’s investigators arrested Michael Allen Tharp on Dec. 14, 2012, two days after the slaying and robbery of his stepfather, 68-year-old Joseph Bernard Hendley.

The shooting happened at a mobile home in the 500 block of North Broad Street in Cowarts near an intersection with Jordan Avenue, not far from Tharp’s home. 

According to Houston County Coroner Robert Byrd, Hendley died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Source: Dothan Eagle, Michele Forehand, May 22, 2018


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: Alabama, USA
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