Hawkins also writes, “According to the prosecutor, uniformed officers announced themselves at the front door and then, only after Maye refused to open up, did they go around to the back door, announce their presence a 2nd time, and break the door down. That’s when Maye shot officer Ron Jones, who hadn’t even drawn his gun, to death.”

The fact that Jones hadn’t drawn his gun is a point in Maye’s favor. What’s more, simply because the police say they announced themselves after the fact doesn’t mean they did. Nor does it mean that they announced themselves sufficiently for a sleeping man to hear them. I hope John will read my paper on no-knock raids when it comes out. I provide case after case after case in which these late-night and early morning raids have caused innocent people to believe they were being invaded by criminals, even when police announce themselves.

In his first post, he refers to this site as a “hidey hole.” I’m not exactly sure what that means. Doesn’t sound flattering. Whatever. It’s in his second, however, that he says I’m doing “some serious backpedaling.”

I’m not backpedaling at all. I’ve been clear from the start that my approach to this case is post information quickly, then clarify and correct as needed. I suppose you could argue that I shouldn’t have put that first post up until I had better confirmed the facts. Problem is, I couldn’t confirm the facts because no one would return my calls. That first post is what triggered the publicity for this case. And it was only after the publicity started that people in Mississippi started calling me back. I haven’t tried to hide anything. I’ve put all the information out there, even information unflattering to Maye, and let folks make up their own minds about the case. Of course, I’ve also been pretty up front about what I think of Maye’s situation.

Let’s look at a few more of this fellow’s criticisms of me:

The Agitiator had kept it sources for information up its sleeve. There was no links for independent verification. Independent verification is something I just like to do. And if I can’t find it, I am going to be skeptical.

I haven’t kept my sources hidden from anyone. I haven’t provided links because until last week, the only media outlets to cover the case — primarily the Hattiesburg American — hadn’t made the articles available online. When I’ve gotten information from a source that didn’t provide a link, I’ve made clear that the story came from local media reports. Anyone with access to Lexis could verify in a matter of minutes. I’d post the firewalled articles verbatim on this site, but I’m fairly sure that would put me in violation of copyright law.

Now, The Agitator is doing some serious backpedalling on what it originally presented.

Again, not backpedaling. Correcting mistakes and clarifying misconceptions. My position that Cory Maye’s pending execution is a travesty hasn’t changed at all.

Yes the police did have a warrant for entry in Corey Maye’s apartment.

But Maye wasn’t named in the warrant. And there’s plenty of reason to believe the warrant should never have been issued.

The police officer was shot at three times. One of the bullets was not stopped by his protective vest.

This wasn’t a correction or a clarification. It was new information. I never wrote, hinted, or implied that Maye fired more or less than three times. I didn’t know how many times he fired. We previously knew that one bullet hit Jones. We now know that Maye fired three times. One of those bullets struck Jones (you might even say “allegedly” here, for reasons I’ll get to later). I posted that information as soon as I learned of it.

Corey Maye was tipped on being a drug dealer and was living without visible means of support.

Now who’s misleading? Jamie Smith was fingered by Jones to be a known drug dealer, thanks to a tip by a confidential informant whose identity we’ll never know. The same informant said he saw marijuana in Maye’s home. He never said Maye was a drug dealer, nor did he mention Cory by name. Jones never sent anyone to attempt to buy drugs from Maye, nor did he have any witness who saw Maye selling. The worst implication one could have drawn from the warrant was that Maye was suspected of marijuana possession, not distribution. And even then, it isn’t Maye himself who was suspected, it was the apartment he’d been renting (possibly from Smith — I don’t yet have verification on who owns the duplex) for only a few weeks.

Also, Maye was not “living without visible means of support.” He was unemployed. His mother and aunt were supporting him. He had just moved out a few weeks prior to the raid. What’s more, his girlfiend lived with him. She was employed. This critic’s characterization of Maye’s unempoyment is deliberately phrased in language meant to imply that he had to be dealing to support himself. The facts don’t suggest that at all.

Also, if I hadn’t posted that Maye was unemployed under a bold heading called “Maye’s Dirty Laundry,” this fellow would never have known it. How exactly is that withholding information?

And Ron Jones, the police officer, was dressed as police officer one fact that The Agitator is still trying to skirt.

Skirt? No. Yes, Jones was uniformed. I’ve never implied otherwise. But the room Jones broke into was dark. Maye was on the floor. And he shot Jones the instant Jones came through the door.

And not to slip by either the jury was not all white, but also had two blacks.

I’ve conceded that mistake, and corrected it. Twice. Three times, now.

I have no problem with anyone withholding judgment, or even disagreeing with me on the facts of the case. But it’s out of line to say I’ve intentionally withheld information or intentionally misled. When I’ve made errors, I’ve corrected them. And I’ve been forthcoming with all information, even when it’s been damaging to Maye.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 15th, 2005 at 10:40 am 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.