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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.

Mississippi executes William Mitchell

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William Mitchell
A 61-year-old Mississippi man was executed Thursday for the 1995 slaying of a woman, who disappeared from convenience store where she worked in Biloxi.

William Mitchell was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. Thursday after a lethal injection.

Mitchell was convicted in the Nov. 21, 1995, slaying of 38-year-old Patty Milliken, who disappeared after walking out of the Majik Mart convenience store where she worked to have a cigarette with Mitchell.

Her body was found the next day under a bridge. She had been "strangled, beaten, sexually assaulted and repeatedly run over by a vehicle," according to court records.

Mitchell was convicted of capital murder in Harrison County in 1998.

The U.S. Supreme Court earlier Thursday declined to stop Mitchell's execution.

Mitchell becomes the 3rd condemned inmate in Mississippi to be put to death this year, and the 18th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983.

Mitchell becomes the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1288th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. There are 2 more scheduled executions in the country next week (Texas and Alabama), up to 7 more in April and 5 more in May.

Sources: Associated Press, Rick Halperin, March 22, 2012
Location: Mississippi, USA
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