Written by Maya Westra (10)

Capital punishment, known colloqially as the death penalty, is one of the most debated topics in U.S. law.  The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, bans the use of “unusual punishment”, but the lack of specificity within the amendment has caused nationwide debate over whether capital punishment is “cruel” or “unusual”.

 

Many people who oppose the death penalty claim that the punishment can be severley different depending on the lawyer, jury, and judge involved in the case.. Especially for upper class defendants who are generally able to afford a private lawyer who may have more time to spend on their case, or have a team of paralegals, and can more effectively advocate for a lesser sentence compared to a public defender. Additionally, juries can be very subjective based on their opinions about the defendant. This has proven to be specifically problematic in terms of race. Studies find that people of color are significantly more likely to be sentenced to death than a white person.1 And many critics of the death penalty go so far as to claim that the court system is so subjective that one in ten people on death row could be proven innocent and therefore exonerated. 2

Madison v. Alabama is perhaps the most notable capital punishment case in recent history. Vernon Madison was one of Alabama’s longest serving prisoners on death row.3 After previously being convicted three times in the 1970s, once for robbery, and twice for assault in Mississippi4, in 1985 Madison was sentenced to death for shooting and killing a police officer who was trying to settle a dispute between Madison and his girlfrienc. Madison had to be convicted three separate times due to issues in each trial. His first conviction was ruled faulty due to racial bias in the jury. The second trial was thrown away due to an “improper expert”, and during his third conviction the jury ruled 8-4 not to give Madison a life sentence, but the judge overrode the ruling.5 Madison suffered from many mental illnesses including severe dementia. His dementia  had caused many strokes leading to severe brain injuries that affected his speech and memory. Serious concern about Madison’s competency were raised when, in 2015, while talking with two prison guards Madison stated that he wanted to move to Florida, and when asked about his crime, he was unable to remember the details. 6 As a result, his original execution date in 2016 was delayed with cause of incompetence and could not be executed since he did not remember the crime. In 2018 Madison was once again scheduled for execution, however, his lawyer argued that his mental disability was still a factor that should prohibit him from being executed. But the state court disagreed and denied Madison’s protection from execution.7 

As a result, his case was eventually taken to the Supreme Court. Based on the precedent set in 1986, in  Ford v. Wainright,  whose decision stated that an inmate cannot be executed if they are mentally incompetent, but this was refering to psycosis, not dementia. It was taken to the Supreme Court to challenge the Eight Amendment prohibiting the use of “unusual punishment” on inmates with severe mental illness and those who cannot remember their crime. 8

Ultimately, the Court ruled 5-3 in favor of Madison. The Court was mainly split across party lines with the exception of Republican Justice Roberts voting with the Democratic justices. The final decision by Justice Keegan stated that under the Eighth Amendment those who have severe mental illness will be barred from execution, but forgetting a crime alone will not stop the chance of execution. When asked about her decision not to bar one from execution if they do not remember, Justice Keagan stated: “Do you have an independent recollection of the Civil War? Obviously not. But you may still be able to reach a rational — indeed, a sophisticated — understanding of that conflict and its consequences.”9

The case was not completely successful in the Supreme Court, however a significant step was made through the addition of dementia to the list of mental illnesses that bar one from execution. This worked in Madison’s favor and allowed him to avoid the death penalty.

Endnotes

1. https://www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty
2. https://www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty
3. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/vernon-madison-whose-case-challenged-execution-of-prisoners-with-dementia-dies-on-alabamas-death-row
4. https://www.al.com/news/2016/05/who_is_vernon_madison_alabama.html
5. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/vernon-madison-whose-case-challenged-execution-of-prisoners-with-dementia-dies-on-alabamas-death-row
6. https://eji.org/news/vernon-madison-alabama-death-row-prisoner-with-dementia-has-died/
7. https://eji.org/news/vernon-madison-alabama-death-row-prisoner-with-dementia-has-died/
8. https://www.oyez.org/cases/2018/17-7505
9. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/us/politics/supreme-court-death-row-inmate-dementia.html
10. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Fwallyg%2F3633635251&psig=AOvVaw3MLs8Sk0G2h7k-2wYUjIh2&ust=1613059444094000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA0QjhxqFwoTCLjHoOzY3-4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD