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Alabama prepares to execute man for killing police officer

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Vernon Madison, who is scheduled to be executed for the 1985 murder of Mobile police officer Julius Schulte. Lawyers for an Alabama death row inmate have asked a federal court to stop his execution on May 12, 2016, saying that strokes and dementia have left him incompetent and unable to remember the murder he was convicted of committing or understand why he's about to be executed. (Alabama Department of Corrections, via AP, File) FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Vernon Madison, who is scheduled to be executed for the 1985 murder of Mobile police officer Julius Schulte. Lawyers for an Alabama death row inmate have asked a federal court to stop his execution on May 12, 2016, saying that strokes and dementia have left him incompetent and unable to remember the murder he was convicted of committing or understand why he's about to be executed. (Alabama Department of Corrections, via AP, File)

By Associated Press May 12, 2016 1 min read

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Alabama is preparing to execute a man convicted in the 1985 killing of a police officer.

Vernon Madison is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at the state prison in Atmore.

Madison was convicted of killing Mobile police Officer Julius Schulte. Schulte 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.

A circuit court last month ruled Madison was competent to be executed despite a decline in his cognitive abilities after a stroke.

Madison would be the second inmate executed in Alabama this year.