Cory Maye: "An Interesting Test Of The Power Of The Blogosphere."

By: Hillary Profita
Topics: Blog Buzz

While the fate of Stanley "Tookie" Williams drew plenty of attention in the in the mainstream media, many in the blogosphere – on the right and the left (Battlepanda has assembled a list of them, conveniently organized by political ideology) – have been lamenting the lack of similar attention to the death penalty case of Cory Maye. Maye is on death row for killing a police officer. Radley Balko of the libertarian blog The Agitator was first to blog about Maye, and those who have followed seem to agree that Maye is the victim of overzealous police and racial bias and doesn't deserve the death penalty.

Balko offers a detailed summary of his findings in the case and sums it up as such:

Cops mistakenly break down the door of a sleeping man, late at night, as part of drug raid. Turns out, the man wasn't named in the warrant, and wasn't a suspect. The man, frigthened [sic] for himself and his 18-month old daughter, fires at an intruder who jumps into his bedroom after the door's been kicked in. Turns out that the man, who is black, has killed the white son of the town's police chief. He's later convicted and sentenced to death by a white jury. The man has no criminal record, and police rather tellingly changed their story about drugs (rather, traces of drugs) in his possession at the time of the raid.

Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit says the case "sounds like a total miscarriage of justice":

If the facts are as [Balko] reports, this guy never should have been charged -- and he should have had a lawsuit (though those, unreasonably, are usually losers) against the police for breaking down the wrong door. The cop who was shot was the police chief's son. And there's a racial angle, too.

Obsidian Wings, who notes that "I don't have any moral qualms about the death penalty as a concept," adds:

If it is true that Maye was mistakenly thought to be a drug dealer and he reacted as many innocent citizens might to an intruder, he ought not be executed. Maye is not the kind of killer that I have in mind when I argue in defense of the death penalty.

Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly's Political Animal, who is "not opposed to the death penalty qua death penalty" writes:

Regardless of whether or not there's more here than meets the eye, there's not much doubt that Maye doesn't deserve to die. It's yet another example of how capriciously the death penalty is applied in the United States, and Maye's case is an almost perfect demonstration of the intersection of race, lousy representation, and likely police misconduct that are so often the hallmarks of capital cases.

The Volokh Conspiracy chides the mainstream media:

The MSM hasn't paid any attention to this story, but it should. And I hope the Mississippi Supreme Court will be paying lots of attention, too.

And amid much talk of the influence of bloggers and citizen journalism, Mark Kleiman at Huffington Post chimes in about what this latest crusade might reveal:

This case is an interesting test of the power of the blogosphere. Though the apparent injustice is two years old, it seems to have attracted exactly zero attention in the mainstream media, at least according to a Google News search for "Cory Maye."

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by angie3679 December 16, 2005 1:02 PM EST: I just dont think that the punishment fits the crime. The man had no criminal record before and there just doesnt seem to be enough consistency with the facts of what happenend. All that raises "reasonable doubt" and he should never have been sentenced to death. I have no faith in the justice system because it all boils down to race anyway. I just hope this case garners some attention soon before this man dies.; Reply to this comment


by flick100785 December 14, 2005 12:01 PM EST: I said "Dealer Smith" and should have said "Wilson." I'm name-challenged.; Reply to this comment


by flick100785 December 14, 2005 11:55 AM EST: There are several things that trouble me about this case. One is that I've witnessed a couple police raids and they're noisy as all-get-out after the door is kicked in. From what I gather, Dealer Smith's house was raided first, and then Maye's. It's kinda hard to believe that Maye would have been asleep through all the racket, even before his door was kicked in. If this duplex had been observed to be the residence of drug dealer(s), it would have been obvious to a cop with 4 yrs experience (or less!) who was involved and which doors they'd been going in and out of. I tend to think that Maye was in fact involved; maybe he wasn't selling, but holding for Smith. But there are a couple-three things that strike me as very odd about this bust. 1. Midnight is a weird time to be kickin' in doors of drug dealers, because that's typically business hours. Unless the dealers in Prentiss all go to bed early, 6 a.m. makes more sense. 2. Why was Off. Jones going into Maye's house *alone*? 3. What exactly happened with Dealer Smith's drug case?; Reply to this comment


by matt_rustler December 14, 2005 4:58 AM EST: Much of the blogosphere is lagging behind Balko's latest posts on this subject. He has a summary that corrects many of his early mistakes and misstatements, here: http://www.theagitator.com/archives/026002.php#026002. Specifically, he now says there *was* a warrant for Maye's apartment (and has posted a .pdf copy of the warrant and related documents). He also admits that the jury wasn't all-white, and that a very small quantity of drugs was in fact found in Maye's apartment. (By the way, the Mississippi Department of Corrections website indicates that it's spelled C-o-r-E-y, not C-o-r-y, Maye.) I don't think the case for Maye's innocence is open-and-shut. Nevertheless, Balko has many questions and concerns that strike me as entirely valid.; Reply to this comment


by wintermute1-2009 December 13, 2005 9:46 PM EST: Have to fault Balko for not doing all his fact-checking first. If you read the comments on Volokh, it appears there may have been a warrant for Mayes' side of the house; and Balko is now saying the jury was "majority white, but not all white." Reassuringly, he tells us: "I'm in the process of double-checking this." http://www.theagitator.com/archives/025977.php#025977 I can't see the rush to blog unless to ride the Tookie wave. Shows the limits of not being there to interview, etc. Also shows the undesirability of publishing judgments "if the facts are as described" or "if this is true." These cases are more and more common in the war on drugs and sadly occur even when the amounts of dope sought are small. Juries tend to believe cops when they say they announced. Whether premeditation and the death penalty fit these kinds of cases where a cop-killing is not clearly deliberate is a legitimate issue, however. Hillary, you've got a nearby affiliate to send to gather facts on this.; Reply to this comment