Alabama prisoner Vernon Madison The Supreme Court is sending a death-row case back to the lower courts to determine if the inmate’s dementia, brought on by strokes he suffered while on death row, should prevent him from being executed.
In the 5-3 ruling at the end of last month, the justices sided with Alabama prisoner Vernon Madison for now, saying the lower court should look at his case again.
Madison, who killed a police officer in 1985, suffered strokes in recent years that left him blind and with vascular dementia and significant memory loss. He cannot tell what season or day it is, and he doesn’t remember committing the crime.
Dementia
Justice Elena Kagan, writing the court’s majority opinion, pointed out that Madison’s dementia is enough of a reason to re-examine his case, noting that the Eighth Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment, “doesn’t care about the particular diagnosis”, or in other words should not apply only to someone with a mental illness or intellectual disability, which the court has previously established.
Kagan was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer. Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not vote on the case since it was argued before he was confirmed to the court.
Bryan Stevenson, Madison’s attorney and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, said the court’s decision affirmed “the basic principle of a humane system of justice”.