Is Alabama death row inmate competent to be executed? Judge to decide
By Kelsey Stein
AL.com
Attorneys for an Alabama death row inmate convicted of killing a police officer 31 years ago say that several strokes have caused mental decline so severe their client no longer understands why the state plans to execute him.
Madison's attorney in February filed a motion seeking to stop his execution, saying he suffers "from significant cognitive decline, acute mental health disorders, and severe medical problems that render him incompetent to be executed."
A competency hearing was held in Vernon Madison's case on April 14 in Mobile County circuit court. Testimony was given by Dr. Karl Kirkland, a clinical and forensic psychologist; Dr. John Goff, a psychologist; and Carter Davenport, the warden at W.C. Holman Correctional Facility.
The next day, Judge Robert Smith issued an order asking attorneys to submit a brief within one week. Those filings appeared in online court records Thursday evening.
Madison is represented by attorneys with the Equal Justice Initiative. In a brief filed on his behalf, they argue that executing Madison would violate his constitutional rights because he does not have a rational understanding of the situation.
In a brief filed by the state attorney general's office, attorneys argue that, based on testimony from both Goff and Kirkland, Madison does understand why the state is moving to execute him.
Madison, who has been on death row since Nov. 12, 1985, was convicted in September 1985 and sentenced to death in Mobile County in the April 18, 1985 slaying of police Officer Julius Schulte, who was responding to a domestic disturbance call. Madison was on parole at the time.
Madison had three trials, the last one in 1994. State appellate courts twice had sent the case back to Mobile County, once for a violation based on race-based jury selection and once based on improper testimony for an expert witness for the prosecution. He is one of Alabama's longest-serving death row inmates.
According to the brief filed by Madison's attorneys, he had a stroke in May 2015 and another in January of this year, causing memory loss and slurred speech, making it difficult for him to move and rendering him legally blind.
Goff conducted neuropsychological testing and evaluated Madison's competence to be executed. Goff determined that, because of the strokes, Madison has retrograde amnesia and dementia, and his IQ score has declined significantly to 72 from previous scores.
"Mr. Madison cannot independently recall the facts of the offense he is convicted of or the previous legal proceedings in his case," the EJI brief states. "Mr. Goff reported that Mr. Madison was unable to recollect the sequence of events from the offense, to his arrest, to his trial and could not recall the name of the victim."
Madison's attorneys are requesting a stay of execution.
Representatives from the attorney general's office argue that Madison's contention that he was unjustly convicted demonstrates that he has a rational understanding of the case and his sentence.
"Madison is aware that he was convicted of murder in Mobile County, has spent thirty years on death row appealing that conviction through numerous appeals, that he is going to be executed for the murder, that the judge sentenced him to death because of who the victim was (a police officer), and that he will die as a result of his execution," the brief states.
The attorneys also argue that testimony from both experts also shows that he does not suffer from psychosis or delusions, and no mental illness or defect would cause Madison to lack an understanding of reality.
The Alabama Supreme Court issued an order setting May 12 as the date for execution. Madison was one of three death row inmates for which the Alabama Attorney General's Office had requested the court in February to set execution dates.
The inmates are being held on death row at Holman Correctional Facility at Atmore where the executions take place.
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/201...inmate_co.html
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