Entries tagged with “Vernon Madison”

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Mar 01, 2019

Supreme Court Decides that Executing a Person With Dementia Could Be Unconstitutional

The United States Supreme Court has reversed a deci­sion of the Alabama state courts that would have per­mit­ted the exe­cu­tion of Vernon Madison (pic­tured), a death-row pris­on­er whose severe demen­tia has left him with no mem­o­ry of the crime for which he was sen­tenced to death and com­pro­mised his under­stand­ing of why he was to be…

Issues

Oct 03, 2018

Justices Appear to Favor Prisoner with Dementia in Case Seeking to Block Alabama Execution

The U.S. Supreme Court heard argu­ment in Madison v. Alabama on October 2, 2018 on whether an Alabama death-row pris­on­er who has vas­cu­lar demen­tia, brain dam­age, cog­ni­tive deficits, and mem­o­ry loss from two near-fatal strokes is com­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed. During oral argu­ment, Bryan Stevenson (pic­tured), the exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Equal Justice Initiative, told the jus­tices that, as a result of severe and…

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Feb 26, 2018

U.S. Supreme Court to Decide if Alabama Can Execute Prisoner With Vascular Dementia and No Memory of the Crime

Less than a week after Alabama halt­ed the failed exe­cu­tion of a ter­mi­nal­ly ill pris­on­er whose veins were not suit­able for intra­ve­neous injec­tion, the U.S. Supreme Court has decid­ed to hear the case of anoth­er Alabama pris­on­er whose med­ical con­di­tion, his lawyers say, make him con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly unfit for…

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Jan 23, 2018

Condemned Alabama Prisoner Seeks Stay Based on Mental Incompetency and Arrest of Court-Appointed Expert

Lawyers for 67-year-old Vernon Madison (pic­tured), a death-row pris­on­er whose diag­no­sis of ​“irre­versible and pro­gres­sive” vas­cu­lar demen­tia has left him with no mem­o­ry of the crime for which he was sen­tenced to death, have filed a motion to stay his January 25 exe­cu­tion in Alabama. In a peti­tion for writ of cer­tio­rari and motion for stay of exe­cu­tion filed January 18 in the U.S. Supreme Court, Madison’s lawyers argue that the courts wrong­ly found Madison…

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Nov 08, 2017

Court Rulings Raise Questions of What Constitutes Incompetency and How is it Determined

Two recent high court rul­ings have raised ques­tions of whether death-row pris­on­ers are suf­fi­cient­ly men­tal­ly impaired to be deemed incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed and who gets to make that deter­mi­na­tion. On November 7, the Arkansas Supreme Court issued an order stay­ing the exe­cu­tion of death-row pris­on­er Jack Greene (pic­tured, left) to resolve whether that state’s mech­a­nism to deter­mine com­pe­ten­cy — giv­ing the direc­tor of the Arkansas Department of…

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Mar 16, 2017

Federal Appeals Court Finds Alabama Prisoner Incompetent To Be Executed

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled on March 15 that Alabama death-row pris­on­er Vernon Madison (pic­tured) — who was spared exe­cu­tion last May when the U.S. Supreme Court dead­locked at 4 – 4 on whether to lift a stay — is not men­tal­ly com­pe­tent to be…

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May 11, 2016

Alabama Prepares to Execute 65-Year-Old Mentally Ill Prisoner Disabled by Several Strokes

UPDATE: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit stayed Madison’s exe­cu­tion, order­ing oral argu­ment on his com­pe­ten­cy claim. Previously: Alabama is prepar­ing to exe­cute Vernon Madison (pic­tured) on May 12, as his lawyers con­tin­ue to press their claim that the 65-year-old pris­on­er is incom­pe­tent to be…