WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has removed an obstacle to Alabama’s efforts to execute a convicted killer who is in declining health. 
 
 The justices on Monday unanimously reversed an appellate ruling that had blocked the execution of 67-year-old inmate Vernon Madison. 
 
 The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that Madison is incompetent to be executed because he doesn’t understand his death sentence or remember what he did after suffering multiple strokes. 
 
 The Supreme Court said in an unsigned opinion that testimony shows Madison “recognizes that he will be put to death as punishment for the murder he was found to have committed.” 
 
 Madison was convicted in the 1985 killing of Mobile Police Officer Julius Schulte, who had responded to a domestic call involving Madison. 

 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday removed an obstacle to Alabama's efforts to execute a convicted killer who is in declining health, ruling the inmate knows he will be put to death as punishment. 
 
 The justices unanimously reversed an appellate ruling that had blocked the execution of Vernon Madison, who was convicted of killing a police officer in 1985. 
 
 Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said his office would seek an execution date for Madison. 
 
 The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that Madison, 67, is incompetent to be executed because he has suffered from strokes and doesn't understand his death sentence or remember what he did. 
 
 The Supreme Court said in an unsigned opinion that testimony shows Madison "recognizes that he will be put to death as punishment for the murder he was found to have committed," even if he doesn't remember the killing itself. 
 
 The court noted that federal courts' review of Madison's case is constrained because of a 1996 law that was intended to limit federal judges' second-guessing of state court decisions. State courts upheld Madison's death sentence, and the Supreme Court, applying the 1996 law, said those decisions should be respected. 
 
 "Under that deferential standard, Madison's claim ... must fail," the court wrote. 
 
 The justices have never ruled on whether someone who doesn't remember their crime can be executed. 
 
 Madison was convicted of killing Mobile police Officer Julius Schulte, who had responded to a domestic call involving Madison. Prosecutors said Madison crept up and shot Schulte in the back of the head as he sat in his police car. 
 
 Madison has been on death row "nearly half his life," Justice Stephen Breyer noted in a separate opinion in which he renewed his call for the court to consider the constitutionality of the death penalty. 
 
 Attorneys from the Equal Justice Initiative who are representing Madison argued that his health declined during his decades on death row and that strokes and dementia have left him frequently confused and disoriented. The Equal Justice Initiative is a Montgomery, Alabama-based nonprofit organization that represents prisoners in need, including those on death row. 
 
 The appellate court in May halted Madison's execution seven hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection. A divided U.S. Supreme Court maintained the stay. 

 The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled Alabama can execute a death row inmate who claimed to be mentally incompetent and was granted a stay in 2016. 
 
 Vernon Madison, 66, is one of Alabama's longest-serving death row inmates. He was convicted in the April 1985 slaying of Mobile police officer Cpl. Julius Schulte. 
 
 In May 2016, Madison was set to die by lethal injection, but hours after the scheduled execution the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling upholding a lower court's stay. 
 
 Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed that decision, meaning Madison is competent and can be executed. "More than 30 years ago, Vernon Madison crept up behind police officer Julius Schulte and shot him twice in the head at close range," the ruling states. 
 
 Madison faced a state competency hearing before his execution, where he claimed several strokes he recently suffered affected his mental status and made him unable to remember his crimes or remember that he was on death row. The trial court denied Madison's petition, and said the execution could proceed. 
 
 But then the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Madison was incompetent and he could not be executed. 
 
 "Testimony from each of the psychologists who examined Madison supported the court's finding that Madison understands both that he was tried and imprisoned for murder and that Alabama will put him to death as punishment for that crime," Monday's ruling states. 
 
 The nation's highest court has never ruled in about executions involving someone who doesn't remember his crime. 
 
 Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in a dissenting opinion about the issues surrounding executions. "...we may face ever more instances of state efforts to execute prisoners suffering the diseases and infirmities of old age. And we may well have to consider the ways in which lengthy periods of imprisonment between death sentence and execution can deepen the cruelty of the death penalty while at the same time undermining its penological rationale." 
 
 Madison was convicted and sentenced to death in both 1985 and 1990, but both times an appellate court sent the case back-- first for a violation involving race-based jury selection, and then based on improper testimony from an expert witness for the prosecution. In 1994, Madison was tried for a third time and convicted. 
 
 The jury recommended a life sentence, but the judge overrode the recommendation and sentenced him to death. Earlier this year, the state legislature threw out the judicial override law, but kept the rule allowing juries to send prisoners to death on a 10-2 vote. 
 
 Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Monday in a press release, "Today's unanimous decision of the Supreme Court confirms the State's argument that Vernon Madison is competent to be executed for the murder he committed more than 30 years ago." 
 
 He said, "The Supreme Court correctly overturned the federal appeals court ruling blocking Madison's execution on the grounds he did not remember the crime he committed due to health reasons. Accordingly, the State will pursue a new execution date as soon as possible...Hopefully, the Supreme Court's wisdom will continue to prevail and allow Alabama executions to go forward." 
 
 Attorneys from the Equal Justice Initiative are representing Madison. 
 
 Angie Setzer, a lawyer who works with the program, said, "The U.S. Supreme Court expressly did not decide whether it is appropriate for the State of Alabama to execute Mr. Madison, rather the Court ruled that relief under the restrictions governing federal habeas review is not appropriate. We are reviewing next steps in light of this ruling."
– In 1985, Vernon Madison shot and killed Mobile, Ala., police officer Julius Schulte after Schulte responded to a domestic call involving Madison; prosecutors say he crept up on the officer as he sat in his police car and shot him twice in the back of the head, the AP reports. In the ensuing decades, Madison, variously reported to be either 66 or 67, has suffered several strokes and says he cannot remember the crime that sent him to Alabama's death row, where he is one of the longest-serving inmates. But on Monday, the US Supreme Court ruled the state can execute him regardless of that, the New York Times reports. "Madison is competent to be executed because—notwithstanding his memory loss—he recognizes that he will be put to death as punishment for the murder he was found to have committed," the court wrote. Hours before Madison was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection last year, he was granted a stay by a lower court and the Supreme Court upheld that stay, AL.com reports. In Monday's ruling, the high court reversed that decision. Though the decision was unanimous, three justices wrote concurring opinions noting that the court should return to the legal questions raised by Madison's case; they simply didn't find his case an appropriate vehicle to address those questions. Justice Stephen Breyer, for example, pointed out that the "unconscionably long periods of time" that prisoners often spend awaiting execution could be a constitutional problem, as "we may face ever more instances of state efforts to execute prisoners suffering the diseases and infirmities of old age," the Washington Post reports. Alabama is seeking a new execution date, WKRG reports.