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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.

Texas death-row inmate Ivan Cantu loses Supreme Court appeal

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Ivan Cantu
Ivan Cantu
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review an appeal from a Dallas man who shot and killed his cousin in a botched 2000 robbery and is now on death row.

Ivan Cantu, 44, had argued that his legal help during his 2001 trial was ineffective and didn't present evidence that proved his innocence.

The Supreme Court made no comment Monday regarding its decision.

Cantu was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death on Oct. 16, 2001, for the slaying of his cousin, James Mosqueda, 27, in Far North Dallas.

He also was indicted in the slaying of Amy Kitchen, 22, Mosqueda's girlfriend.

During the trial, one of Cantu's former girlfriends, Amy Boettcher, testified that he had told her of his plans to kill Mosqueda and showed her the bodies after the act.

Boettcher also said that when she saw Cantu on the night of the murder, his socks and pants were bloody. Tests showed that the blood on his clothing belonged to Mosqueda.

Additionally, police found Mosqueda's car at Cantu's apartment complex. Investigators also found the murder weapon — with Cantu's fingerprints on the magazine — at the home of another of Cantu's ex-girlfriends.

Sources: Dallas News, Associated Press, June 19, 2017

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