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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 father spared from death penalty for beating his 5-year-old son to death

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Darell Avant Sr. and Jr.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - An Orange County jury decided to spare a man from the death sentence for beating his five-year-old son to death.

Darrell Avant Sr. was convicted last week of killing Darell Avant, Jr. after the boy got in trouble at school. 

Avant Sr. will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors said Avant Sr. abused the trust he had as the boy's father

One of the big claims the defense made revolves around Avant Sr.’s waiting 30 minutes after the beating to call 911. 

During the trial, prosecutors used Avant Sr.’s Google searches as evidence. They said he searched, “how to tell if an infant is dead,” before calling 911. 

This week, jurors and the judge heard from family, a teacher and doctors.

A doctor that testified Monday said Avant Sr. may not have been able to recognize that his son was dead.

On Tuesday, a neurologist testified Avant Sr. used his mental problems to avoid the death penalty. A day earlier, a different doctor blamed Avant Sr.’s murderous rage on a brain injury and that his cognitive abilities are not as good as they should be.

The child’s mother also took the witness stand and said she wished she could go back and pick him up from school herself instead of leaving him with a killer.

"He meant the world, he meant the world to me. And no words, no words can explain how much he meant to me," said Jessica Phillips.

Source: wftv.com, Kevin Williams, Field Sutton, July 5, 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: Florida, USA
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