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Should a man who killed an Alabama police officer in 1985 but now can’t remember doing so almost 33 years later have his death sentence rescinded by the powers that be?
Surprisingly, that is something that our nation’s Supreme Court will be deciding later this year.
According to WHNT, 67-year-old Vernon Madison was scheduled to be executed for his heinous crime in January, but he received a stay after his lawyers argued that numerous strokes as well as dementia have left him in a state where he doesn’t remember shooting Officer Julius Schulte to death in 1985.
Here’s what his lawyers say:
“Mr. Madison suffers from vascular dementia as a result of multiple serious strokes in the last two years, and no longer has a memory of the commission of the crime for which he is to be executed. His mind and body are failing.”
Here’s what the state of Alabama has to say about it:
“Here, while Madison claims to have no memory of Officer Schulte’s murder, his own expert agreed that he understands that he was tried for that offense, that he is in prison and will be executed because of that offense and the finality of death if his sentence is carried out.”
Here’s what we say about it:
“He killed a police officer. F him.”
It’s unknown exactly how many inmates on death row will suddenly develop memory loss to prevent their executions in the coming months, but our guess is that it will be somewhere around 100 percent.
