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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.

D.C. sniper: 'Murder this innocent Black man'

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- John Allen Muhammad, who is on Virginia's death row in connection with the 2002 Washington-area sniper spree, has written to Virginia prosecutors saying he wants to waive all rights to appeal.

In the letter dated April 23, Muhammad professes his innocence, but says he wants to waive appeals so the state "can murder this innocent Black man."

Muhammad's court-appointed attorney, contacted Tuesday, declined to characterize the letter. But attorney James Connell said he had just met with Muhammad and "when I left him today at 3 o'clock, he did not want to be executed."

Muhammad, now 47, was sentenced to death for killing Dean Harold Meyers as Meyers refueled his car at a Manassas, Virginia, gas station. Following that conviction, Muhammad was also tried and sentenced to death in Maryland for six additional sniper-related murders.

His accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, who was 17 during the spree, was also convicted of murder but was sentenced to life in prison.

Police believe the duo are responsible for 10 murders in a spree that terrorized the Washington area in October 2002.

Virginia's highest court upheld Muhammad's death penalty saying "Muhammad's crimes cannot be compared to any other case in the commonwealth." Muhammad acted "with breathtaking cruelty," the court said.

Muhammad and Malvo also are suspects in eight other murders across the country.

In Muhammad's two-page, hand-written letter to Virginia's attorney general, Muhammad says he told his attorneys that "I do not need them to represent me any more" and told them not to file any appeals on his behalf.

"I've also asked them for the right addresses so that mine (cq) letter will get to the right people -- But they have not given it to me," he wrote.

Muhammad asked the attorney general to forward it to the appropriate person.

Connell, Muhammad's court-appointed attorney, said he first saw the letter Tuesday. He said the federal habeas action is proceeding and that Muhammad does not want to be executed.

Muhammad's letter was written about a week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that lethal injections, using certain protocols, are constitutionally permissible. But it is not clear whether that decision influenced Muhammad. The letter does not mention the Supreme Court decision.

The high court will hear arguments on Virginia's protocols for lethal injection later this month.

Source: CNN.com
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