U.S. Supreme Court Rules for Alabama Cop Killer on Death Row

The Supreme Court of the United States is now ordering a new state court hearing to determine whether an Alabama death row inmate is so affected by dementia that he cannot be executed.

According to the Montgomery Advertiser , justices ruled 5-3 on Wednesday in favor of inmate Vernon Madison, who was convicted of murdering Corporal Julius Schulte in 1985.

Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's four liberal justices in siding with the 68-year-old Madison.

The court has previously ruled that the Constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual punishment" means that people who have severe mental incapacity cannot be executed.

At the time of Madison's conviction of killing Schulte, he had three prior convictions in Mississippi—robbery in May 1971, assault in June 1973, and assault in July 1977—according to news reports.