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Abstract
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Sir William Blackstone, in 1765, in The Commentaries on the Law of England, wrote: Idiots and lunatics are not chargeable for their own acts, if committed when under these incapacities: no, not even for treason itself. Also, if a man in his sound memory commits a capital offence, and before arraignment for it, he becomes mad, he ought not to be arraigned for it: because he is not able to plead to it with that advice and caution that he ought. And if, after he has pleaded, the prisoner becomes mad, he shall not be tried: for how can he make his defense? If, after he be tried and found guilty, he loses his senses before judgment, judgment shall not be pronounced; and if, after judgment, he becomes of nonsane memory, execution shall be stayed: for peradventure, says the humanity of the English law, had the prisoner been of sound memory,he might have alleged something in stay of judgment or execution. (Blackstone, 1765) Under the common law of England and America, insane persons were not given the death penalty.
But what is an insane person? The Supreme Court, in Madison v. Alabama, attempted to provide some clarity to this question (Madison v. Alabama, 2019).
Facts In April 1985, in Mobile, Alabama, Police Officer Julius Schultz was mediating a domestic dispute between Vernon Madison and Cheryl Green, his former girlfriend. Schultz remained at the house in his squad car to protect Green and her daughter while Madison moved out of the house. While Schultz sat in the car, Madison shot him twice in the back of the head killing him, and also shot and injured his former girlfriend. Madison was tried three times in 1985, 1990, and 1994. The conviction from his first trial was overturned because prosecutors excluded black people from the jury. His conviction in his second trial was overturned because evidence, not properly introduced, was brought to the jury through an expert witness's improper testimony (Madison v. Alabama, 2019). In his third trial, the jury convicted Madison and recommended life in prison. Madison's third trial judge, Judge Ferrill McRae of Mobile County Circuit Court, decided to impose the death penalty instead of life in prison. The conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals and the Alabama Supreme Court (Liptak, 2018).
Madison has been an inmate in the Holman Correctional Facility since 1985. He had severe strokes in 2015 and 2016 that resulted in brain damage, vascular dementia, cognitive impairment, long-term memory loss, physical decline, and an inability to remember his crime of shooting Schultz (Liptak, 2019). Madison told psychologists, in 2016, "I never went around killing folks" (Baptiste, 2018). He was supposed to be executed May 2016. The state court, after a competency hearing, may have allowed Madison's execution because the state court believed the Supreme Court only barred execution if the prisoner was incompetent from insanity or gross delusions. Madison was arguing that he was incompetent because of suffering from dementia. Alabama concluded that Madison had a rational understanding of the reasons for his execution, even if he had no recollection of his crime (Liptak, 2018). The federal District Court rejected his petition...
Language: en |