SCOTUS (surprisingly?) stays scheduled Alabama execution seemingly based on petition challenging now-changed judicial override
As reported in this local article, headlined "Execution called off for Alabama inmate Vernon Madison," the Supreme Court last night got in the way of a state's effort to carry out a death sentence for a man first convicted of killing a police office back in 1985(!). Here are some details and background:
Vernon Madison, one of the longest serving inmates on Alabama's Death Row, was scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Thursday, but 30 minutes before the scheduled execution the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay. The stay was later granted, and Madison's execution called off.
Madison, 67, has been on death row for over 30 years after being convicted in April 1985 of killing Mobile police Cpl. Julius Schulte. He was set to die by lethal injection at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore Thursday night, but escaped execution for the second time via a court order.
Madison was 34 when he was charged Schulte's death, who was responding to a domestic disturbance call. Madison also was charged with shooting the woman he lived with at the time, 37-year-old Cheryl Ann Greene. She survived her injuries....
Madison's first trial took place in September 1985. He was convicted, but a state appellate court sent the case back for a violation involving race-based jury selection. His second trial took place in 1990. Prosecutors presented a similar case, and defense attorneys again argued that Madison suffered from a mental illness. They did not dispute the fact that Madison shot Schulte, but said he did not know that Schulte - dressed in plain clothes and driving an unmarked police cruiser - was a police officer.
He was again convicted, and a jury recommended a death sentence by a 10-2 vote. An appellate court again sent the case back to Mobile County for a retrial, this time based on improper testimony from an expert witness for the prosecution.
His third and final trial took place in April 1994. He was convicted, and the jury recommended a life sentence after both Madison and his mother, Aldonia McMillan, asked for mercy. Mobile County Circuit Judge Ferrill McRae sentenced Madison to death-- this time overriding the jury's recommendation.
In April 2017, Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law a bill that says juries, not judges, have the final say on whether to impose the death penalty. That law officially ended Alabama's judicial override policy, as Alabama was the last state to allow it.
Late Wednesday, Madison's attorneys filed two more petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court-- an application for a stay of execution, and a petition for a writ of certiorari focused on the issue of judicial override. Madison's attorneys argued that since he was sent to death under the judicial override statue, he is entitled to a stay and a review of his case. Attorneys filed similar motions to the Alabama Supreme Court, but they denied the request earlier Wednesday. "Because a death sentence is no longer permissible in cases where the jury has returned a sentence of life, Mr. Madison filed a challenge to his death sentence and scheduled execution in the Alabama Supreme Court. He contended that this execution would be arbitrary and capricious and constitute a violation of the Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment," the petition states. "The judicial override in this case resulted in a death sentence that is arbitrary, disproportionate, and unconstitutional..." Madison was first scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in May 2016, but there was a temporary delay. Hours after that execution's scheduled time, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling upholding an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals stay of execution. The AG's Office filed responses in opposition to those petitions. In November 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed that decision, paving the way for Madison to be executed.
Last month, Madison's attorneys from the Equal Justice Initiative filed a petition in Mobile County court to stay Madison's execution, but after a hearing the judge in that case denied the request for a stay of execution. Bryan Stevenson, founder of the EJI and one of Madison's attorneys, then filed two new petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court: One for a stay of execution, and one asking the court to review the case. The AG's Office also filed responses to those requests....
Around 5:30 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay of execution, but the stay was granted at 8:10 p.m. Madison will not be executed Thursday night, and the AG's office must request a new execution date from the state supreme court.
The Supreme Court's order states the stay is in place until the justices decide whether they will grant Madison's writ of certiorari, or if they will review the case. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch would deny the application for stay, the order said.
Without seeing all the filings, it is hard for me to tell at this stage whether this stay could be a big deal for death penalty jurisprudence generally. But it is obviously a big deal for any and everyone connected to this defendant, his victims and perhaps all capital lawyers in Alabama.
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