NationStates Jolt Archive


Screw Tokkie, Set This Black Man Free!

Eichen
16-12-2005, 06:11
Christmas Presents from the Drug Warriors

By Stephen Gordon

While everyone else is paying attention to the execution of Tookie Williams, let me tell you another story. Other than a recent flurry of blog traffic instigated by libertarian columnist and blogger Radley Balko, this issue is being ignored by the media. As the blogospheric investigation continues, more facts are being uncovered daily, which will either clarify, correct, or augment the story below. In a few cases, I'll use a slash mark to indicate conflicting versions of the events.

Around midnight on the day after Christmas in 2001, Cory Maye was sound asleep in a living room chair in his Prentiss, Mississippi duplex apartment. His 14/18 month old daughter was asleep on his bed/her crib. Maye had no criminal record. Known drug dealer Jamie Smith lived on the other side of the same duplex.

Officer Ron Jones was the son of the Prentiss police chief. He provided information to the city judge in order to obtain search warrants for both apartments. The cited reason was suspected drug trafficking, based on information provided by a confidential informant and Jones's alleged personal observation.

The Pearl River Basin Narcotics Task Force conducted the raid on both apartments, and Officer Jones accompanied them. From Maye's perspective, he was sound asleep when someone wearing dark clothing broke into the back door of his house. According to one report, "[Maye] had previously 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.'"

Out of fear for his life and to protect the safety of his daughter, Maye fired his pistol. He shot Jones in the abdomen, just below his bulletproof vest.

"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," Maye later testified.

Officer Jones died from gunshot wounds suffered that night. There are conflicting reports about whether any drugs were actually found in Maye's apartment. The official documents state that a small quantity of marijuana was actually found, but the evidence is disputable due to the circumstances and modifications made to the evidence form.

Let's fast forward a bit. It is now a month after Christmas in 2004 and Maye is now on trial for capital murder. He is black, and is portrayed as a black drug dealing cop-killer in front of mostly white jury. Maye claims that he shot in self-defense. The jury finds him guilty, and he is sentenced a couple hours later to death by lethal injection.

Maye's name was not on either warrant and Smith was the clear target of the paramilitary operation which cost one life, so far. The warrant would have never been obtained had it not been for the word of a confidential informant. The identity of the informant is forever buried with Officer Jones.

It is not clear whether Jones knocked before forcefully entering the home. If he did knock or announce himself, it is highly likely to not have been heard by Maye.

One man is dead already because of this incident. Perhaps it is not too late to act to save Mr. Maye.
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Fuck Tookie. This is blatant abuse of the death penalty, among many, many other things. :(
Lacadaemon
16-12-2005, 06:20
It certainly sounds like a miscarriage of justice. I doubt anyone will care however, because he's not writing children's books. It's a harsh thing to say, but that's how people are. Safly, I've noticed during the course of my life that most people prefer to show mercy to the guilty, than actually vindicate the innocent. Makes them feel "special" I suppose.

Well, you're an Ayn Rand fan, you know what I am talking about.
Flocarga and Delmarva
16-12-2005, 06:27
A few comments...

1. This is Mississippi. Hell, state authorities there would just hang a black man from a tree for no good reason if they could. Since we as a nation cut that practice out, they just have to make them suffer in poverty (and/or frame them) and then let them do something which brings the death penalty.

2. He was found guilty of capital murder late in 2004? He'll be on death row for a good 15 years minimum. If anyone in 2021 is paying attention, let us know.

3. From what article you've posted, there is no reason why the police should have been knocking through his apartment. There might be a decent chance his sentence will be overturned if he gets an appeal that works out good for him. Then again, he's black and in Mississippi. Good luck with that.
Saint Jade
16-12-2005, 06:40
Why does supporting this black man necessarily negate the support of Tookie?

I believe that neither of them should have been given the death penalty. This is yet another example of the racist application of the death penalty in the US, and lends further weight to the cause of anti-death penalty advocates.
The Cat-Tribe
16-12-2005, 06:50
Fuck Tookie. This is blatant abuse of the death penalty, among many, many other things. :(

This is why the death penalty is so dangerous. It picks unduly on the poor and minorities.

Assuming the above facts are true, I would support at least clemency. My guess is that the facts are in dispute and there is more we aren't being told.

(Not that necessarily means I won't support clemency for this guy. I don't see the world in black and white and automatically condermn any shade of gray.)