I should have posted this from David Kopel's Rocky column on Saturday:
After all the attention the mainstream media, including the Denver dailies, gave to the execution of the unrepentant quadruple- murderer Tookie Williams, it would be nice if the media focused on a man on death row who is actually innocent.That man is Cory Maye, currently on death row in Mississippi. In brief, the home occupied by Maye and his baby daughter was violently invaded at 11 p.m. one night by three men. Maye grabbed his handgun and fatally shot one of the invaders.
The invaders turned out to be police officers executing a search warrant based on uncorroborated information supposedly from a "confidential informant." Maye had no criminal record, and the police initially found no drugs, but later claimed to have found a tiny quantity of marijuana.
Maye's plight has gotten major attention in the blogosphere since Radley Balko of www.the agitator.com broke it in early December. The superb Denver criminal law blog TalkLeft has also helped advance the story.
Glenn Reynolds posted this, and reminded me this morning. So you probably saw it already.
I'll admit I've lost some of the drug war focus on this blog of late. Outrage fatigue, I guess. All the stories about innocents killed in drug raids, people incarcerated for years over miniscule amounts of contraband, it all starts to sound the same after a while. As the Cory Maye story illustrates, it hasn't stopped happening, of course.
What's very important to remember these days, is the incroachment on liberty over the past decades due to the drug war, and how that's laid the foundation for GWOT excesses in the past few years. Indeed, much of the (ostensibly) terrorism related legislation is being used in drug cases instead. The two topics aren't separable.
Posted by Walter at December 19, 2005 11:15 AM"So you probably saw it already."
Nah, I saw it when it became such a prevalent topic on the lefty blogs a couple of weeks ago.
Posted by: Gary Farber at December 19, 2005 11:58 PMI meant the Kopel article. The Maye case was publicized by Radley Balko first, and I think his blog The Agitator is one of the most vital in the 'sphere, and I read it just about every day.
Posted by: Walter at December 20, 2005 08:23 AM