Today, I talked to the circuit court clerk for Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi.

Mississippi has surprisingly transparency-friendly open records laws, so I was able to ask for a copy of the search warrant that led to the raid on Maye’s home. It’s on the way. The clerk was a little gruff with me at first, asking rather matter-of-factly, though in quite an elegant drawl, what the heck I wanted with it.

I explained the situation. She told me to call back in an hour. I called back, and she said she had the warrant. She’d need a written request, however, before she could release it to me. So I faxed one over.

I was a little anxious about what the warrant said, so on a whim, I asked if she could take a quick look at it for me. The conversation went something like this:

Her: You want me to read the whole thing? It’s very long.

Me: No, that’s okay. I just have a hunch about what’s in it that I was hoping you could check out for me.

Her: What would you like me to look for?

Me: Are you familiar with the Cory Maye case?

Her: Oh, yes. I know what happened.

Me: My guess is that you’ll find the name of Jaimie Smith on that warrant, but you won’t find the name of Cory Maye. Could you check to satisfy my curiosity before you send me a copy?

Her: Okay. Let’s see…. Jaimie….

Me: Smith…

Her: Yes, now I see his name is on the warrant. Jaimie Smith.

Me: Now look for Cory Maye.

Her: Silence.

Me: Corey Maye?

Her: Silence.

Me: Is he in there anywhere?

Her: Oh my.

I haven’t yet seen the warrant myself. But the clerk confirmed to me over the pohne that Cory Maye’s name wasn’t anywhere on it. Now have a look at this AP story from January 2004. The article was written after Maye was sentenced to death, more than two years after the shooting. Relevant excerpt:

A Jefferson Davis County man will pay with his life for the 2001 shooting death of a Prentiss police officer.

Cory Maye, 23, showed no reaction when a Marion County jury of eight women and four men found him guilty of capital murder Friday in the death of Officer Ron Jones.

Jones was one of eight officers conducting a search warrant looking for illegal drugs at two apartments on Mary Street in Prentiss on Dec. 26, 2001. Shortly after Jones entered Maye’s bedroom, he was shot in the chest, the bullet missing his protective vest.

Emphasis mine. It’s certainly possible that the reporter who filed this story screwed up, and simply assumed the warrant covered both sides of the duplex. Or it’s possible that Pentiss police misled the media into thinking exactly that. None of the stories written on the Maye case that I’ve seen so far have pointed out that Maye was not the original subject of the raid.

So let’s re-sum what we know so far: Police broke down Maye’s door at sometime after 11:30pm at night. He was alone with his daughter. He was not a drug suspect, nor were police authorized by the warrant to enter his home. Maye had no prior criminal record. And police said at the time that no drugs were found in his apartment, though they later say they found “traces” of marijuana and cocaine.

Here’s the text of Mississippi’s “capital murder” law, for which Maye was convicted and sentenced to death:

“(2) The killing of a human being without the authority of law by any means or in any manner shall be capital murder in the following cases:

(a) Murder which is perpetrated by killing a peace officer or fireman while such officer or fireman is acting in his official capacity or by reason of an act performed in his official capacity, and with knowledge that the victim was a peace officer or fireman…”

Emphasis mine. The question is, did Maye know that Jones was a cop? I’ve yet to see trial transcripts or the police report, but Maye’s former attorney tells me that the police team conducting the raid insist they announced themselves before breaking into Maye’s apartment. The jury, I suppose, therefore concluded that a reasonable person in Maye’s position should have known that Jones was a cop.

Maye’s former attorney has her doubts. I have mine, too. There’s plenty of reason to suspect otherwise. First, it’s doubtful that Jones and the officer who broke the door down ahead of him announced themselves. It’s clear from the warrant that they weren’t even aware the target of the warrant was a duplex with a second, separate residence. What’s more, Jones stormed Maye’s bedroom unarmed, a pretty clear indication that the police didn’t believe someone else was taking up residence there. Why would a cop announce if (a) the SWAT team has already apprehended the subject of the raid, and (b) the entering cop desn’t suspect there’s anyone else in the room he’s entering?

Second, even if Jones or another officer did announce themselves, there’s still penty of reason to think a reasonable person in Maye’s position could still not have known the invaders were police.

It was late at night. It was dark. And Maye was frightened. Further, given that Maye wasn’t a criminal, wasn’t a drug dealer, and wasn’t the subject of the warrant, you could make a pretty good case that a guy like Maye would assume that anyone breaking down his door in the middle of the night would be anybody but a cop. He certainly hadn’t done anything to merit such a violent apprehension. Instead, a reasonable first reaction would have been to assume it was an intruder about to do him or his daughter harm.

Which brings us to self-defense. Maye’s actions didn’t meet a capital murder charge on its face. But he also had the right to defend himself, his daughter, and his home. Here’s Mississippi law on justifiable homicide:

(1) The killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or omission of another shall be justifiable in the following cases:

[...]

f) When committed in the lawful defense of one’s own person or any other human being, where there shall be reasonable ground to apprehend a design to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury, and there shall be imminent danger of such design being accomplished…

Put yourself in Maye’s shoes. You have no criminal record. You’ve done nothing wrong. In the middle of the night, in a bad neighborhood, you awake to find someone attempting to break down your door. The door flies open, and a man in black paramilitary gear comes storming into your bedroom, where your infant daughter also happens to be sleeping.

Not only is that set of circumstances “reasonable ground” to think that someone is about to do you “great personal injury,” and that you’re in “imminent danger” of said personal injury being accomplished, you’d be crazy not to take quick action to defend yourself.

The SWAT team was in Maye’s home illegally. And they failed to exercise due dilligence in obtaining the search warrant, given that they were obviously unaware that the target of the warrant was a duplex with a second residence. These are facts.

I’d argue that the town of Prentiss, and the men who executed the warrant owe Maye compensation. Lots of it. Instead, we’re arguing about whether Maye ought to be put to death for defending himself.

Something’s very wrong, here.

(Thanks to this fellow for following up on Mississippi statutory law, saving me some time.)

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 8th, 2005 at 6:18 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Cory Maye. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.