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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.

Execution stayed for Alabama man convicted of killing cop

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Alabama death row
A federal court granted a stay of execution for Alabama death row inmate Torrey Twane McNabb, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday.

The order was issued on Monday by Chief U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins of the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division.

The state has appealed the stay.

The execution was scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Hollman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

McNabb has spent the last 18 years on death row, after being convicted of fatally shooting Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon in September 1997. 

McNabb was convicted on two capital murder counts-- one for killing Gordon while he was on duty, and one for killing him as Gordon sat in his patrol car. 

McNabb also was found guilty of two additional counts of attempted murder.

McNabb's attorney John Anthony Palombi, an assistant federal defender, filed an emergency motion for stay of execution on Oct. 11. 

The defense claims the "challenged method of execution presents a substantial risk of serious harm" and that there's an alternative that can reduce the risk of severe pain. 

A federal court of appeals stayed the execution of Jeffery Lynn Borden on Oct. 2 on similar grounds. 

"Borden, in almost identical circumstances, received a stay of execution," Monday's order stated. 

"Defendants did not appeal, admittedly in part because of the late litigation hour. The court, in equity and good conscience, cannot treat McNabb differently than Borden when the stakes are this high. There is no evidentiary justification for disparate treatment of McNabb."

Source: al.com, Erin Edgemon, October 16, 2017


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but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
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