I think it’s wonderful that the Cory Maye case is making its way around the blogosphere. But it’s important that we get all of the facts straight on the case. I’ve already seen a few misconceptions start to appear. I think this is in part due to conflicting accounts of the case as given by various media outlets in Prentiss and Hatiesburg, by Maye’s first lawyer, by the cops at the scene, and by the prosecution. It’s also probably in part due to me putting the first two posts up rather quickly, and perhaps not being quite as clear as I should have been. It’s important that all the facts are correct, because even if a 75% true version of the story starts getting cited in letters to Gov. Barbour, he can cite the 25% that’s wrong, and dismiss them outright as being ignorant of the facts of the case. So let’s review:

1) To my knowledge, the jury was majority white, but not all white. I’m in the process of double-checking this.

2) In my estimation, the facts of the case clearly suggest that police did not knock before entering Maye’s home. That’s what Maye says. And that’s what Maye’s first lawyer believes. The police, however, insist that they both knocked and announced. So whether or not this was, technically, a “no-knock” raid isn’t entirely clear. Complicating the matter is whether or not there was ever actually a warrant issued for Maye’s apartment, and whether that warrant was of the no-knock or knock-and-announce variety.

Of course, even if there was a warrant, and it was of the knock-and-announce variety, it doesn’t mean cops actually abided by it. And even if they did, remember that Maye was asleep, and that they forcibly broke open the door of a man who had done nothing wrong. Even giving police every benefit of the doubt, I think it’s clearly reasonable for Maye to (a) not be aware that the men breaking down his door were cops, and (b) believe his life and the life of his daughter were in peril.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 10th, 2005 at 12:19 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.