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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.

Man in Killing of Navajo Nation Girl Set to Be Sentenced

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Tom Begaye Jr.
A man who pleaded guilty to murder and sexual assault in the death of an 11-year-old girl on the largest American Indian reservation is set to be sentenced.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A man who pleaded guilty to the murder and sexual assault in the death of an 11-year-old girl on the largest American Indian reservation is set to be sentenced.

Tom Begaye is scheduled Friday to receive life in prison for the May 2016 killing on the Navajo Nation that prompted calls to expand the Amber Alert system and the death penalty to U.S. tribal communities.

Begaye, 28, was arrested on May 4, 2016, on allegations that he kidnapped Ashlynne Mike and her brother from near their Lower Fruitland home and drove them to an area about 6 miles south of the Shiprock pinnacle.

At the pinnacle, Begaye is accused of sexually molesting Ashlynne Mike and bludgeoning her to death with a tire iron, according to court documents.

Ian Mike was released and found several hours later wandering along Navajo Route 13 by a motorist.

Begaye was indicted on May 24, 2016, on six counts, including first-degree murder, kidnapping resulting in death, two counts of aggravated sexual abuse resulting in death and kidnapping of a minor.

Begaye pleaded not guilty to the six charges during a June 7, 2016, hearing and changed his plea to guilty as part of a plea agreement, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

As part of the plea agreement, Begaye agreed to serve life in prison without the possibility of release.

Ashlynne was reported missing, but an Amber Alert didn't go out until the next day.

Her body was later found in an area near the Arizona-New Mexico border.

The Navajo Nation, like many Native American tribes, outlaws the death penalty.

Begaye pleaded guilty in August.

Source: The Associated Press, October 20, 2017


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: New Mexico, USA
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