Comments on: Cory Maye free

Cory Maye free

vivelame — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:18:17 -0800

After spending ten years in prison for capital murder, most of it on death row, Cory Maye is to be set free.

By: vivelame

vivelame — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:19:22 -0800

Radley Balko did a fine, fine thing by bringing this case to the attention of the public.

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:38:56 -0800

Presumably if Cory Maye had taken the time to establish whether the men invading his home were cops before pulling the trigger, he would have been shot on sight. The police error placed him in an impossible nightmare which this decision mitigates only partially. I am glad he is not going to be murdered by the state.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:41:38 -0800

Gods, the full story is terrible. Not only a bust on the wrong apartment, but a full-force entry on assurance from an informant that there was marijuana in the apartment? OK, it's an illegal substance, but is that much force necessary for pot?

By: atrazine

atrazine — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:45:53 -0800

Every time that I want to totally write off Reason I have to add Except for Radley Balko, may he live a thousand years under my breath after it. Interesting that this happened in a county named after a traitor to the United States.

By: Renoroc

Renoroc — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:52:33 -0800

This July 4th, I'm going to cherish my right of vicinage.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:54:36 -0800

atrazine, Jefferson Davis is a more complex character than that. Sure, historians have criticized Davis for being a much less effective war leader than Abraham Lincoln, which they attribute to Davis being overbearing, controlling, and overly meddlesome, as well as being out of touch with public opinion, but in the end, he stood behind the united Union and spoke against repeating the same fight. /derail

By: Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish

Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:57:39 -0800

In the middle, he rose up in rebellion and took a leadership role in a war that spilled the blood of over half a million of his countrymen. So yeah, let's stick with "traitor".

By: Rubbstone

Rubbstone — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:04:48 -0800

You know horror movies don't bother much. This is the type of thing that frightens the crap out of me. Living a normal life all of a sudden due to circumstance.... BAM! Your up against the wall.

By: phearlez

phearlez — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:32:38 -0800

Every time that I want to totally write off Reason I have to add Except for Radley Balko, may he live a thousand years under my breath after it. Since he's moved to Huffington Post you can drop that habit. I think that's just a different plate of stinky insanity (with an addition of a sidebar of gossip & upskirt skeeze) but I'm sure some people think it's an improvement.

By: Monday

Monday — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:20:15 -0800

He's free now, but he is still convicted of a manslaughter charge. His life is still ruined, though he is on the outside.

By: Justinian

Justinian — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:25:39 -0800

He's free and he has a family. Yes, his life is nothing like it would have been if this hadn't happened but I'm pretty sure if you asked him today if he felt his life was "still ruined" he would be incredulous.

By: birdhaus

birdhaus — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:49:02 -0800

Life in post-racial America, eh?

By: janerica

janerica — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:50:37 -0800

I like how one of the heroes of the story is the (former) county pubic defender Bob Evans. These stories are usually about how ineffective the PD was (case in point--the TX attorney who slept through parts of a death penalty trial). In the longer article that filthy light thief linked, it discusses how the private attorney was inexperienced and should never have accepted the case. But I can see why families would assume a private attorney would automatically be better--I've seen it as a PD myself. Last fall I had a former client hire a kid just out of law school, no trial experience and only a month after his bar admission, on a gun minimum felony case! There are some great PDs out there, but the lousy ones give us all a bad name...

By: Hactar

Hactar — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:12:20 -0800

One of the things that has always bothered me about this case is the certainty that I have that if Cory Maye had been shot with his hands up and a cry on his lips about not hurting his daughter, there would have been no consequence except maybe some embarrassment from the cops. Even if his daughter had been shot, all that would have happened would be administrative leave, at worst. We cut police a great deal of slack in these cases, but the moment a man, scared at the thought of a home invasion tries to defend himself, he finds himself on death row for years. No-knock raids are a license for murder and mayhem.

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:47:34 -0800

...county pubic defender Bob Evans. Spell checker will get you every time on that.

By: janerica

janerica — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:16:20 -0800

Whoops! Though that is my favorite typo.

By: ethnomethodologist

ethnomethodologist — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:35:56 -0800

If he hadn't had that gun, the officer would still be alive and he wouldn't have spent the last 10 years in prison. I feel desperately sorry for people on death row for crimes they didn't commit, but this guy killed somebody to protect his fucking property. That gets you a murder conviction in Canada, because you CANNOT use deadly force here to protect your property. The cops would never have killed him without a fucking HANDGUN in his hands. No private citizen needs a fucking HANDGUN. This is all kinds of fucked up and I'll say it once again- I am SO HAPPY not to be living in that shithole called the USA anymore.

By: Justinian

Justinian — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:48:30 -0800

I am SO HAPPY not to be living in that shithole called the USA anymore. Hope you didn't let the door hit you on the way out.

By: effugas

effugas — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:49:21 -0800

ethno, He was protecting his fucking daughter.

By: wierdo

wierdo — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:51:05 -0800

To protect his property? You think shooting an armed intruder who is in your house is protecting property? Who not only kicked your front door in, but then decided to go for you in the bedroom? Things really must be different in Canada.

By: wierdo

wierdo — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:52:36 -0800

Oh, and by the way, I'm not aware of any state where it's legal to shoot someone in defense of property, unless that person is in your home. Maybe there is one, but I live in one of the gun-lovingest places on the face of the Earth and that's not legal here.

By: Inspector.Gadget

Inspector.Gadget — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:09:16 -0800

but this guy killed somebody to protect his fucking property. No he didn't. RTFA. No private citizen needs a fucking HANDGUN. Unidentified people kicking in your door at 3AM is in no way an argument against owning a handgun. That gets you a murder conviction in Canada, because you CANNOT use deadly force here to protect your property. The cops would never have killed him without a fucking HANDGUN in his hands. No unarmed person has ever been shot by the cops. This is based on my careful research into the issue. No private citizen needs a fucking HANDGUN. Safety scissors for all! I am SO HAPPY not to be living in that shithole called the USA anymore. Well, since you left, it's just a hole.

By: any major dude

any major dude — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:31:05 -0800

There are some great PDs out there, but the lousy ones give us all a bad name... a good lawyer, a good doctor, a good teacher, a good politician, and yes a good policeman is worth their weight in gold. These are people who day after day hold the lives of others in their hands and therefore must be held to a higher standard - and respect when they hold that standard - than those who just move money around.

By: chaff

chaff — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 20:06:11 -0800

The cops would never have killed him without a fucking HANDGUN in his hands. You don't think that happens in Canada too?

By: sonic meat machine

sonic meat machine — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 20:22:41 -0800

The cops do something completely asinine, a guy ends up in jail over it, and amazingly it becomes an argument against handguns. Really? Do you listen to yourself? If only the victim in the case had been polite enough to allow the intruders to do whatever they wanted to him! Then everything would be fine!

By: XhaustedProphet

XhaustedProphet — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 21:09:28 -0800

The reason these raids are often conducted late at night or very early in the morning is to catch suspects while they're sleeping and least capable of processing what's going on around them. This is exactly why they should NOT be conducted at night.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 02:50:01 -0800

ethnomethodologist writes "The cops would never have killed him without a fucking HANDGUN in his hands. No private citizen needs a fucking HANDGUN." This exact same scenario could play out with a Canada legal long gun. In fact pretty well any rifle will punch through standard cop body armour increasing the danger.

By: atrazine

atrazine — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 03:07:12 -0800

I feel desperately sorry for people on death row for crimes they didn't commit, but this guy killed somebody to protect his fucking property. Not true. He wasn't exactly taking a carefully aimed shot at a trespasser here. That gets you a murder conviction in Canada, because you CANNOT use deadly force here to protect your property. The cops would never have killed him without a fucking HANDGUN in his hands. Many Canadians have shotguns, but to be fair it is unlikely that a shotgun would punch through body armor and many fewer Canadians keep them loaded. People in England, with its strict gun laws, have shot intruders and not been convicted. Notable exceptions have been the farmer who shot a boy in the back as he was fleeing. They're just about to change the law to further clarify the right to use any available force against burglars (obviously not if they're outside or running away - which is not relevant here). Although that force does not include handguns in the UK, it does include other lethal weapons. The real problem here, and the focus of Radley Balko's campaign, is the militarisation of American policing. Paramilitary style raids like this are becoming more and more routine and violence is the inevitable consequence of that.

By: wierdo

wierdo — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 17:41:38 -0800

atrazine wrote: The real problem here, and the focus of Radley Balko's campaign, is the militarisation of American policing. Paramilitary style raids like this are becoming more and more routine and violence is the inevitable consequence of that. This. There are times when paramilitary style raids may be appropriate, but they're entirely overused here in the US.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 09:27:58 -0800

Cory Maye Freed After 10 Years In Prison: The Back Story

By: homunculus

homunculus — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:36:16 -0800

Cory Maye Update

By: homunculus

homunculus — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:45:06 -0800

Cory Maye Comes Home