This morning, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a stay of execution for Alabama death row inmate Vernon Madison.
In March, the State of Alabama had scheduled Mr. Madison’s execution for today. Since that time, EJI lawyers have been asking both state and federal courts to stay Mr. Madison’s execution because he is incompetent to be executed. As a result of multiple strokes over the last year, and other serious medical conditions, Mr. Madison suffers from vascular dementia, which has left him unable to rationally understand why the State is seeking to execute him. Mr. Madison now speaks in a slurred manner, is legally blind, and can no longer walk independently as a consequence of damage to his brain.
It is unconstitutional to execute an individual who is mentally incompetent. Today, the Eleventh Circuit ordered a stay of Mr. Madison’s execution so that it could properly consider the claim that his execution would violate the Constitution.