Via email, McDonald writes about the search warrants:

The warrants are probably in the evidence exhibits to the trial and not in the general file which contains indictments and other pleadings but normally not the evidence that was introduced. They were introduced at the suppression hearing on the search as exhibits 1 and 2, this is on page 7 of the transcript of the trial during the suppression hearing and the originals were identified by Judge Kruger the City Judge at the hearing. If they make you copies of exhibit 1 and 2 to the suppression hearing you will see them. The warrant for one apartment was for an apartment occupied by “Jamie Smith/and or persons unknown” I believe. In the warrant for the apartment Maye was in it is stated, I believe that the apartment was occupied by “person or persons unknown”. If the name of the occupant is known to the informant the warrant is issued like that some times. Many times when informants deal with people they do not get their real or any names at all.

If this is true, then I think we have a real problem. If Maye isn’t specifically named in the warrant, and the specific information Jones used to get a warrant for Maye’s home “died with Jones,” we’ll never know exactly why police broke down Maye’s door that night. If the warrant is for “persons unknown,” and not for Maye, the only two real possibilities are that (a) the warrant included Maye’s residence only because it was adjacent to Smith’s, or (b) Maye was the target of the investigation all along, but the informant didn’t know Maye’s identity, only where he lived.

The latter seems improbable, given that Maye had no prior criminal record, and no drugs were found in his apartment. The problem is, we’ll never know, because apparently, all record of the investigative work Jones did prior to obtaining the warrant “died with him.”

Back to McDonald’s email:

As to why I he would not open, I can not say. The door to the other apartment was only a few feet from his front door. They heard the announcement from the team that went there and those people opened up. A witness testified a light went on in the front room of the apartment that the front door went into. When the shooting occurred may was in a back bedroom. Maye was the only person in the apartment other than the child.

I’m not sure the fact that the light went on is all that relevant. What’s relevant is whether or not police properly announced themselves and, given the time of night the raid was conducted, whether or not Maye should have reasonably assumed them to be police. According to the Hattiesburg American, Maye testified that upon hearing the banging on his front door, he became frightened, and went to the bedroom to get and load his gun. It’s not unreasonable to think that this is when he might have turned on the light. It’s here that police broke down the back door, and Jones stormed Maye’s apartment. Maye’s testimony is that the narcotics task force yelled “police” only after forcing the door open, and he’d already shot Jones. At that point, he dropped his gun and raised his hands.

As to why no drugs were found in Maye’s apartment, and why a man with no criminal record would engage in a shootout with police instead of simply letting them in, McDonald answers:

Time elapsed from the time they announced at the front door and the time they gained entry in the back. Things get flushed some times. We do not know what else he might have to hide, (what he might have done he knew of and the police did not know of]) he may have thought they were there on to something else concerning him. Just to be frank some times people do irrational things.

Well, that last sentence is certainly true, though probably not in the way McDonald intended. What’s troubling here is the level of suspicion McDonald thrusts onto Maye, despite the fact that, at risk of repeating myself, (a) Maye had no crminal record, (b) no drugs were found in Maye’s apartment, (c) there’s every reason to believe that Maye wasn’t even the original target of the warrant.

McDonald goes on:

The flip side of the issue is why would the officers not announce and take a chance on getting shot?

Probably for the same reasons that cops carry out no-knock raids all over the country — about 40,000 per year, by some estimates. No-knocks are usually justified on the flawed premise that it’s safer to barge into someone’s home at 3am with high-powered weaponry than it is to apprehend them as they’re coming or leaving the house. For reasons that escape me, politicians, district attorneys, and police chiefs all over America are sold on the idea. I think they’re pretty obviously mistaken, and the littany of botched raids and dozens of people — cops and civilians — who have fallen victim to them is good evidence that I’m right. But I guess, just to be frank, sometimes people do irrational things.

You can get and read the transcript. It the facts and issues are discussed there.

I only contacted you to let you know where you could get the transcript as you seemed interested in the case. That way you do not have to rely on what I say or on what the defense attorney says you can read it for yourself. It is about 540 pages would not take you too long.

I plan to.

You can check how various other blogs are reacting to the Maye case here.

Battlepanda also has a breakdwon by ideology.

Two reader responses to District Attorney McDonald’s answers to my questions:

If the informant in the Maye case is “anonymous,” and if Jones is the only person who knew the identity of the informant, and if that identity “died with Jones,” and if prosecutors “did not know the name of the informant” (which I highly doubt, because the prosecutors I know ALWAYS knows the names of the informant, and most states have procedural rules that allow–in some cases–the defense attorneys to uncover the name of an anonymous source), then how does the prosecutor know that Maye “knew the informant”?

If no one knows who the informant is, how could they know Maye’s relationship to him? The only explanation I can come up with is that Jones assured the rest of the team that the informant was solid. But can that possibly be the standard? An assurance by the guy conducting the raid that the raid was legitimate, and that he didn’t fuck up?

Besides the warrant itself, there should be a record of the request for the warrant, written by Jones, and to the judge, outlining the case for reasonable suspicion/probable cause (whatever the standard in Mississippi is). You should be able to look at that, too.

Here’s another:

I find it nearly impossible to believe that Jones did not leave any record of the information regarding Cory Maye. In particular, the entry and search teams should have insisted on having whatever information Jones had. How can you plan a high-risk drug raid without having all the information available?

To me, it just doesn’t add up. Either the entry and search teams were incredibly negligent and sloppy in their work, or someone is lying. My guess would be the latter.

I encourage anyone interested in this case to offer their own observations, particularly those with legal training and experience in criminal law. I’m certain I’m not qualified in criminal law to do all the dirty work here. And the more heads we get thinking about how the various pieces of this case fit together, the better.

We’ll make this a kind of open source campaign to get Maye some justice.

Reader David Seth Michaels writes:

Two additional things should be emphasized. First, according to the Hattiesburg paper, Maye was convicted of the capital murder on Friday morning, and he was sentenced to death on Friday afternoon. That means that the penalty phase of this case was less than 1/2 a day long, including opening statements and deliberations. That, compared to usual cases is way, way, way too little to convince a jury not to kill. It suggests ineffective counsel at the very least on sentencing.

Second, this case reached a verdict in January 2004. That was 2 years ago. There’s still been no filing (apparently) on the direct appeal. That could happen in Mississippi because of delays in getting a transcript (you need one to appeal), but more likely, it’s because whoever is representing Maye on the appeal doesn’t know what s/he’s doing. Put another way, nobody of modest means (Maye was renting a “shabby” duplex as described in the Hattiesburg paper) has enough resources to hire decent appellate counsel in a death case. I know this from experience. So a big question is why this guy doesn’t have appointed, qualified Miss counsel who are up to the task at hand.

As I mentioned in the original post, Maye’s family fired his first attorney, Rhonda Cooper, after his death sentence. According to Cooper, they then hired a guy from California who apparently has little legal background, and doesn’t appear to have yet filed an appeal. So far, I haven’t been able to get in touch with Maye’s family to verify the status of his representation or his appeal.

As for Cooper, she seems like a very nice woman who represented Maye the best she could. She takes on a lot of indigent clients. I’m not qualified to assess the competency of her representation, though it’s probably worth noting that Maye was her first capital case. I thought her suggestion to jurors that God would judge them should they not show Maye mercy was a bit odd, though for all I know that kind of thing may not be all that uncommon in some parts of the country.

In any case, several people have asked about a legal fund, and about the adequacy of Maye’s current counsel. I don’t know about any defense fund, and I’m neither qualified nor the appropriate person to start one up. Should one get going, though, I’ll be sure to post the details. When I called the Mississippi ACLU shortly before putting up the first Maye post, they had never heard of his case. Perhaps they’d be the most likely source of competent representation for him.

1. When was the warrant against Cory Maye issued? Where is it now filed?

The warrant was issued from the City Court of Prentiss by Judge Kruger. It should be with the evidence exhibits either with the Clerk or the court reporter

My comment: I should be getting a copy of both warrants tomorrow morning by fax.

2. Was Maye actually named in the warrant, or just his address? Or both?

He was not named, it was person or persons unknown occupying the property.

My comment: A warrant needn’t name a specific person, but this is the first sign that Officer Jones exercised little due dilligence to verify the tip he got from his informant. Because Maye isn’t named, we don’t know for sure if Maye or Jaimie Smith, the other resident of the duplex, was the primary target of the raid. The fact that Smith was named and Maye wasn’t, however, at least suggests that Smith was the primary target.

3. Were separate warrants issued for Maye and for Jaimie Smith? Were their separate addresses on those warrants?

Yes there were separate warrants

4. Officer Cooley testified to the grand jury that Officer Jones collected information from a confidential informant saying that Cory Maye was selling drugs. Precisely what did the confidential informant say that led to the warrant for Cory Maye? And who was the informant? Was he a former felon? Did he have a proven record of reliable tips?

The informant’s identity and exactly what he told Jones died with Jones. If the Judge Kruger had not found the informant was reliable the warrant could not have been issued.

My comment: Judge Kruger should make this information public. The credibility of the informant is important. If Officer Jones and the narcotics task force commenced a late-night, volatile raid based on a tip from a shady informant, they exercised poor judgment, a comment on their credibility that an appeals court might consider when deciding whether to believe them or Cory Maye on the contested issue of whether or not they knocked before entering his apartment.

5. Was the warrant issued based only on the statements of one informant, or were there others? Given that he had no previous criminal record, did the task force attempt any controlled buys or surveillance of Maye’s residence before raiding it?

Jones was handling the case and he is dead exactly what he did in the course of his work on it died with him

My comment: This is critical information, and Prentiss police ought to find this paperwork and make it publicly available. If Prentiss police burst into Maye’s apartment in the middle of the night based on a tip from an anonymous informant who didn’t even know Maye’s name, with no corroborating investigation, that’s a practice that (1) shows the poor judgment of both Jones and the narcotics task force, and (2) one would think the citizens of Prentiss and surrounding communities would want to know about. Anonymous informants have a long and unfortunate history sending police off on these kinds of raids with bad information.

The information is also important because it would give us some indication of whether or not Cory Maye was actually a drug dealer. At the moment, all signs indicate he wasn’t. And whether or not Cory Maye was a drug dealer is important because it offers some evidence of his state of mind when the police broke into his home, the critical point in a capital murder case. A drug dealer — who knows he regularly breaks the law — would have every reason to think a late-night raid on his apartment might be the police. Someone with no criminal record, who isn’t in the drug distribution business, and who hasn’t done anything wrong, is probably less likely to think the police would raid his home in the middle of the night. He’s probably more likely to think it’s someone who might do him harm.

6. Is it common practice for the narcotics task force to break down doors to serve search warrants on suspects with no previous criminal record, and based on tips from a single anonymous informant?

If the issuing judge finds probable cause to issue the search warrant the officers serve it. If the occupants refuse to allow entry, as Maye did, entry is usually forced. The informant was not anonymous Jones knew the informant.

My comment: Clearly, if this raid commenced based on a tip from a single informant, and with no corroborating investigation, Judge Kruger shares some blame. This is yet another big problem with no-knock and short-notice drug raids: There’s no oversight whatsoever on the judges who issue the warrants. A judge who signs off on a no-knock warrant doesn’t really have to answer to anyone. Even cities that have civilian review boards don’t permit them to look into the specifics of why a judge issued the warrant.

7. Why did police wait until after raiding Martin’s apartment before raiding Maye’s? If police were certain that there were to separate residences, why not raid both at the same time? If Maye were a drug dealer, wouldn’t raiding the other end of the duplex first tip him off, and give him an opportunity to flush his stash?

Both apartments were raided at the same time. There were two teams one that went to the front door of each apartment. This is a small duplex. Occupants of Smith’s apartment allowed entry. Maye did not open up after announcement was made at the front door. Jones then went to the back door.

My comment: Maye’s former lawyer has a different account of the raid.

8. Was Cory Maye ever charged with actual drug distribution, the reason the warrant was issued in the first place? If not, why not?

Jones only knew the identity of the informant and when he died any further proceedings on that died. We did not know the name of the informant.

My comment: Wouldn’t Jones have kept paperwork? Seems unfortunate that we’ll never know whether or not this raid was legitimate in the first place.

9. Do you believe today that Cory Maye was a drug dealer? Based on what evidence?

All I know about any drug activity is what was in the search warrants. Maye was not tried as a drug dealer he was tried for killing Jones. The issues in the case are; 1.Did Jones have a warrant, 2.Was he serving the warrant as a law enforcement officer and 3. Did Maye know he was a law enforcement officer when he shot him. The jury decided these things. Whether he was a drug dealer was not an issue in the murder case.

My comment: No, but it is an issue in whether or not the raid was legitimate, and whether or not Maye had reason to suspect the people breaking down his door were police.

10. Why did police change their story on whether or not drugs were found in Maye’s apartment? And exactly how much marijuana or cocaine is necessary to comprise a “trace?”

I do not recall they changed their story. As to a trace it would be a small amount.

My comment: Police clearly did change their story. Immediate reports said police found drugs in Maye’s apartment. Police later say they found the “trace.” This is a relatively minor point, given that police may have found the traces aftera more thorough search of the place. But what’s clear is that they didn’t find enough drugs for Maye to even be labeled much of a user, much less a dealer.

11. If Cory Maye was a suspected drug dealer, and if he was named in the warrant as a suspected drug dealer, and if Officer Jones knew there were two, separate residences at the duplex, why was the unarmed Officer Jones the first to enter Maye’s home? Do police typically raid the homes of suspected drug dealers unarmed?

There were several officers there and they were armed. Jones was armed and his gun was still in his holster after he was shot as I recall. His hands were free so he could force entry on the back door as I recall. He had backup officers with him at the back door.

My comment: This differs with the account I was given by Maye’s former attorney. She says the other officer broke down the door, and Jones ran in. I’ll have to verify when I get the trial transcript.

12. Was Jaimie Smith ever charged with drug distribution?

I handled the murder case and off the top of my head I do not recall the course of the drug case on Smith

My comment: The case against Smith does have some relevance to Maye’s plight. If no drugs were found on Smith, either, then the entire raid was a fraud.

13. If you’re correct in stating that two separate warrants were issued on the same day for the raid on the Smith-Maye duplex, why was the search warrant naming Jamie Smith and his residence in Cory Maye’s criminal file at the Jefferson Davis County Circuit Court, but not the search warrant naming Cory Maye and his residence? When I asked clerk Jerri Landry, the Smith warrant was the only warrant found in Maye’s file.

I do not know that other than what I said in my last email. The court reporter may have them. The original of it was introduced in evidence at the suppression hearing along with the other search warrant on Smiths place. I will try to send you copies. There is no question the warrants exist because the judge could not have allowed the murder case to go to trial if the warrant had not existed.

My comment: I need to talk to Maye’s former attorney again on this. I find it odd that the warrant against Smith would be in Maye’s file, but the warrant for the raid on Maye’s separate address would not. Could be an oversight. Could be merely that the clerk didn’t recognize that there were two separate warrants when I spoke with her on the phone.

In January 2004, the Hattiesburg American (sorry, no link) ran this quote from Maye’s first attorney, Rhonda Cooper:

“The thing that bothers me the most is the notion that this 21-year-old who was out on his own for the first time and caring for his daughter was supposed to act reasonably and perfectly, but the officer did not. The reason why the officer lost his life is because he failed to do a thorough investigation. There was no surveillance, no controlled buys. There was no announcement that he was a police officer.

“Everybody has to bear some responsibility for this. Cory reacted like any other person who thought someone was breaking into his apartment. He was scared. There was no intent to kill.

And therein lies the problem with hyper-militarized, highly-weaponized drug raids. Citizens on the other end of these raids are expected to behave perfectly rationally. They’re supposed to be cognizant, alert, and aware that it is police, and not illegal intruders, who are storming their homes. At the same time, police typically justify the tactics used in no knocks — including raiding late at night or just before dawn, and deploying dangerous “flashbang” grenades designed to confuse and bewilder a house’s occupants — for the precise reason that they catch drug suspects off guard, and disorient them. How, then, can they turn around and say that the innocent victim of a no-knock who shoots back should have known better?

For my upcoming paper on no-knock and short-notice drug raids, I’ve researched probably close to a hundred examples of botched drug raids, where cops clearly conducted a middle-of-the-night raid on an innocent person or family. Thus far, I haven’t found a single incident in which police themselves were ever charged with a crime for either raiding the wrong home, or shooting someone once inside.* In a handful of the more egregious cases in which a “wrong-door” raid has resulted in the actuall death of an innocent person, the city government has paid compensation, but even then, the settlements are generaly only paid under threat of a lawsuit. But even that is rare. Baltimore County, Maryland, for example hasn’t paid the family of Cheryl Lynn Noel a penny.

On the other hand, I’ve come across several cases where police raided the wrong home and the resident was prosecuted for firing back. Here are three:

I just sent the following set of questions to Buddy McDonald, prosecutor in the Cory Maye case:

Reader John Jenkins passes along the case of Wheeler v. Mississippi (536 So.2d 1341), in which the Mississippi Supreme Court threw out the capital murder conviction of a man (Wheeler) who was apprehended by police, got into a hand-to-hand struggle with three officers, stole one officer’s gun, then fired at a figure in the doorway. The figure turned out to be that of another cop who had come around from the back. Wheeler was determined to have knowingly fired the shot in the direction of the figure in the door way. The court upheld the murder conviction, but threw out the capital murder conviction (the willful and knowing murder of a police officer or fireman) because the justices found reasonable doubt as to whether or not Wheeler actually new the figure in the door way was that of a police officer.

Now, I don’t think Maye should be held even for murder. In fact, I think the cities and counties represented in the task force that conducted the raid owe him compensation. But if the Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled that there isn’t reasonable doubt to convict a man who — while in a hand-to-hand struggle with uniformed police officers — shot and killed a third officer standing in the doorway, of knowingly killing a police officer, seems to me there’s more than enough doubt to absolve Cory Maye.

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.

TalkLeft finds a report I wasn’t able to track down. The Hattiesburg American newspaper ran a summary of Cory Maye’s testimony in his own defense in an article from January 2004:

The man accused of killing Prentiss police officer Ron Jones in December 2001 testified Thursday that he didn’t know Jones was a law enforcement officer when he shot him.

Cory Maye, 23, said he was asleep on a chair in the living room of his Prentiss apartment as his 14-month-old daughter slept in the bedroom when he heard a loud crash at his front door. “I immediately ran to my daughter’s room, got a pistol, put in a magazine and chambered a round,” said Maye, who is on trial for capital murder in Marion County. “As I laid on the floor by the bed, I heard kicks at the back door. I was frightened, I thought someone was trying to break in on me and my daughter.”

Maye testified that it was dark in his apartment when he heard someone breaking into the back door, which was located in the bedroom. “That’s when I fired the shots,” Maye said. “After I fired the shots, I heard them yell ‘police! police!’ Once I heard them, I put the weapon down and slid it away. I did not know they were police officers.”

Claiborne “Buddy” McDonald writes:

I saw your posting on the Maye case. I was the prosecutor in the case and while it is still pending for appeal purposes and I can not discuss much about it. I will say that there are some issues in the case which are important to your concerns. There were 2 separate search warrants issued for 2 separate apartments in a wood frame duplex which were located side by side one of which was the apartment Maye was in. The warrant was not for the wrong apartment. The warrants were issued by a lawyer/city judge not a lay judge. The warrants were served at the same time by two teams. The testimony was that there were several announcements that they were the police and that they had a search warrant. The occupants in the apartment next to Maye’s allowed entry after announcement and there was no resistance. Maye did not. Porch lights were on in the front of Maye’s apartment and the uniformed officers and marked cars visible in the front yard and on the porch. The officers announced at the front door and then at the back door. The officer who killed was at the front door initially and then went around the back to the back door before entry was made. The defendant Maye testified and the jury did not believe him. You really need to get a copy of the transcript to get an understanding of the entire case. You can get it from Cecilia Fillingame the court reporter in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. If the officer had not had a valid warrant and right to be there the trial judge would not have allowed the case to go forward.

I am a supporter of the right to defend one’s home and while that was his defense, neither the grand jury nor trial jury composed of African Americans and whites believed it. Our area is pro gun rights and pro defense of home and if there had been a serious question as to the announcement or May’s knowledge that it was the police I doubt there would have been an indictment or conviction and certainly not a death verdict. They all voted to find him guilty and all voted to impose the death penalty. The case was not tried in the county of the killing but venue was changed to another county. From the State and the jury’s point of view it was not a no knock or no announce case. I can really say no more than this now but the transcript will give you the full story.

Buddy McDonald

I’ll put in a request for the trial transcript on Monday. I also replied to McDonald, and asked him to send me a copy of the warrant to search Maye’s home.

In the meantime, I have two questions:

1) If there were two separate search warrants issued on the two residences on the same day, why did the Jefferson Davis County clerk only find one warrant in Maye’s file when I called?

Here’s how the process went on Thursday: I called and asked asked circuit court clerk Jerri Landry if I could get a copy of the search warrant in Maye’s file. She said it would take her a while to find it, and asked me to call her back in an hour. When I called back, she said she had the warrant. I asked her to check it for Maye’s name. Maye’s name was nowhere to be found. Now, I suppose it’s possible that the warrant with Maye’s name and address is filed away somewhere else. But that doesn’t make much sense. Why would the warrant for Jamie Smith (the other resident of the duplex) be in Cory Maye’s file, but not the warrant for Cory Maye?

2) Even if there had been a separate warrant for Maye, that doesn’t mean Maye wasn’t justified in defending himself. He’s only guilty of capital murder if he killed Jones knowing that Jones is a cop. It’s just not feasible that Cory Maye — a guy who had no criminal record, and who had no drugs in his home (or, at worst, had “trace amounts”) — would knowingly fire a gun at police who knocked on his door to serve a warrant. It’s far more likely that, had he known they were cops, a guy with no previous record and no drugs would have let them in. Particularly with his eighteen month old daughter alseep in the same home.

Also, keep in mind here that Maye only needs to establish reasonable doubt. You may be torn on whether or not Maye should have known the intruders were cops. But torn isn’t good enough. The prosecution’s burden is to prove that a reasonable person in Maye’s position should have known beyond a reasonable doubt that Jones was a cop. I’ll look at the transcript once I get it. But give the facts of the case we’ve been able to piece together so far, I just don’t see how that’s possible.

Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for helping us get some attention for the Maye case.

As soon as I get the search warrant, I’ll post a pdf.

Seems to me this is the kind of case that ought to stir up both left and right. The left, I think, for its tradition of defending civil liberties. And the right for its tradition of standing up for a man’s right to defend his home.

The larger issue is of course the abhorrent practice of no-knock and short-knock drug raids to begin with. My paper on these highly-volatile, highly miitarized raids should be out early next year. Maye’s case is in there. But it isn’t the only outrage. There are dozens more.

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.)

(Note: Much has changed since this post went up. Please check here for the latest on the case.)

Might want to keep a shot of something stiff nearby as you read this one.

Over the course of researching my paper, I came across the case of Cory Maye. Maye today sits on Mississippi’s death row, convicted of capital murder for shooting police officer Ron Jones. It’s probably worth mentioning that Jones is white, and Maye is black. It’s probably also worth mentioning that at the time of his death, Jones’ father was police chief of Prentiss, Mississippi, where the shooting took place. The jury that convicted Maye contained two black women, but was otherwise white.

Here are the details, culled from various media reports and conversations with a couple of people close to the case:

Sometime in late 2001, Officer Ron Jones collected a tip from an anonymous informant that Jamie Smith, who lived opposite Maye in a duplex, was selling drugs out of his home. Jones passed the tip to the Pearl River Basin Narcotics Task Force, a regional police agency in charge of carrying out drug raids in four surrounding counties. The task force asked Jones if he’d like to come along on the raid they’d be conducting as the result of his tip. He obliged.

On the night of December 26, the task force donned paramilitary gear, and conducted a drug raid on Smith’s house. Unfortunately, they hadn’t done their homework. The team didn’t realize that the house was a duplex, and that Maye — who had no relationship with Smith,– rented out the other side with his girlfirend and 1-year-old daughter.

As the raid on Smith commenced, some officers – including Jones — went around to what they thought was a side door to Smith’s residence, looking for a larger stash of drugs. (Note added on 12/12: This is Maye’s first attorney’s account of the raid. Police did have a warrant to both residences, though Maye wasn’t named in either.) The door was actually a door to Maye’s home. Maye was home alone with his young daughter, and asleep, when one member of the SWAT team broke down the outside door. Jones, who hadn’t drawn his gun charged in, and made his way to Maye’s bedroom. Police did not announce themselves. (Note added on 12/09/05: Police said at trial that they did announce themselves before entering Maye’s apartment — Maye and his attorney say otherwise. I’m inclined to believe Maye, for reasons outlined in this post. However, even if they did, announcing seconds before bursting in just before midnight, isn’t much better than not announcing at all. An innocent person on the other end of the raid, particularly if still asleep, has every reason to fear for his life.). Maye, fearing for his life and the safety of his daughter, fired at Jones, hitting him in the abdomen, just below his bulletproof vest. Jones died a short time later.

Maye had no criminal record, and wasn’t the target of the search warrant. Police initially concluded they had found no drugs in Maye’s side of the duplex. Then, mysteriously, police later announced they’d found “traces” of marijuana. I talked to the attorney who represented Maye at trial. She said that to her knowledge, police had found one smoked marijuana cigarette in Maye’s apartment. Regardless, since Maye wasn’t the subject of the search, whether or not he had misdemeanor amounts of drugs in his possession isn’t really relevant. What’s relevant is whether or not he reasonably believed his life was in danger. Seems pretty clear to me that that would be a reasonable assumption.

It apparently wasn’t so clear to Mississippi’s criminal justice system. In January of last year, Maye was convicted of capital murder for the shooting of Officer Jones. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

Let’s summarize: 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 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.

The story gets more bizarre from there.

Maye’s attorney tells me that after the trial, she spoke with two jurors by phone. She learned from them that the consensus among jurors was that Maye was convicted for two reasons. The first is that though they initially liked her, Maye’s lawyer, the jury soured on her when, in her closing arguments, she intimated that if the jury showed no mercy for Maye, God might neglect to bestow mercy on them when they meet him in heaven. They said the second reason May was convicted was that the jury felt he’d been spoiled by his mother and grandmother, and wasn’t very respectful of elders and authority figures. The facts of the case barely entered the picture. Gotta’ love the South.

It gets weirder. Maye’s family terminated his trial attorney after he was convicted. In her place, they hired a guy from California with no legal experience who convinced them that he’d had bad representation (given his lawyer’s closing argument, he was probably on to something). The new fellow has since failed on several occasions to file the proper appeals.

Maye’s case is an outrage. Prentiss, Mississippi clearly violated Maye’s civil rights the moment its cops needlessly and recklessly stormed his home in the middle of the night. The state of Mississippi is about to add a perverse twist to that violation by executing Maye for daring to defend himself.