Dunn v. Madison
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 6, 2017 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- November 6, 2017
- Term
- October Term 2017
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Cite as: 583 U. S. ____ (2017) 1 Per Curiam SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES JEFFERSON DUNN, COMMISSIONER, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS v. VERNON MADISON ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT No. 17–193. Decided November 6, 2017 PER CURIAM. More than 30 years ago, Vernon Madison crept up be- hind police officer Julius Schulte and shot him twice in the head at close range. An Alabama jury found Madison guilty of capital murder. The trial court sentenced him to death. See Ex parte Madison, 718 So. 2d 104 , 105–106 (1998). In 2016, as Madison’s execution neared, he petitioned the trial court for a suspension of his death sentence. He argued that, due to several recent strokes, he has become incompetent to be executed. The court held a hearing to receive testimony from two psychologists who had exam- ined Madison and prepared reports concerning his compe- tence. The court’s appointed psychologist, Dr. Karl Kirk- land, reported that, although Madison may have “suffered a significant decline post-stroke, . . . [he] understands the exact posture of his case at this point,” and appears to have a “rational understanding of . . . the results or ef- fects” of his death sentence. App. to Pet. for Cert. 75a (internal quotation marks omitted); Madison v. Commis- sioner, Ala. Dept. of Corrections, 851 F.3d 1173 , 1193 (CA11…
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