PakNews: Supreme Court takes case of death row inmate who forgot the crime

Tuesday, 27 February 2018

Supreme Court takes case of death row inmate who forgot the crime

A month after halting his execution, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up the case of an Alabama convicted murderer whose attorneys argue should be spared the death penalty because strokes have wiped out his memory of committing the crime. The justices agreed to decide whether executing 67-year-old Vernon Madison, convicted of fatally shooting a police officer in 1985, would violate the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment bar against cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court has previously imposed some limits on capital punishment relating to people with intellectual disabilities and mental illnesses.