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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.

Child rapist re-sentenced to life

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GRETNA (AP) — A man whose conviction led the U.S. Supreme Court to ban the death penalty for child rape last year has been re-sentenced and will spend life in prison.

During a brief hearing Wednesday, 44-year-old Patrick Kennedy appeared in shackles before state District Judge Ross Ladart to receive the mandatory life term.

Kennedy, of Harvey, had been convicted of aggravated rape of a juvenile under age 12 and was sentenced to die under a Louisiana law that allowed such punishment for that crime. The U.S. Supreme Court considered whether the death penalty is a disproportional punishment for child rape. Its 5-4 decision, handed down June 25, banned the punishment, effectively eliminating Louisiana’s statute as well as similar ones in five other states.

Source: theadvertiser.com, January 13, 2009
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