66 year old Vernon Madison is on death row after having been convicted of killing a Mobile police officer, Julius Schulte, in April 1985, but is unable to stand trial.  Madison was found guilty of shooting the officer in the head after Schulte had responded to a report of missing child in the home where Madison was staying.  Madison also shot his one time girlfriend, though she was lucky enough to survive the attack.  The case should have been open and shut, but it proved to be anything but that.

Image Courtesy of NBC News

The appeal court’s decision is in line with the ruling in Ford v. Wainwright in 1986, concluding that executing a person who cannot understand the reason for his or her execution violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.  Madison's first two convictions had been overturned on appeal. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Madison’s first conviction because prosecutors had excluded African Americans from the jury pool.  A second conviction was set aside because prosecutors elicited expert testimony “based on facts not in evidence.” A jury ultimately convicted Madison in his third trial and had recommended life in prison, which a judge overrode and imposed the death penalty instead.

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Alabama Execution Halted After Supreme Court Allows Lower Court Order To StandDeath row inmate with vascular dementia is incompetent for execution, 11th Circuit rules