A federal appeals court ruled Thursday to delayed the execution of an Alabama inmate convicted of killing a police officer 31 years ago. Vernon Madison, 65, has spent decades on death row after being found guilty of slaying Mobile Police Cpl. Julius Schulte in April 1985. His lawyers have long attempted to delay the execution on the grounds that he is no longer mentally competent following several strokes and dementia. The stay in his execution was granted by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
