Cory Maye, victim of the drug war, finally going home after 10 years in prison

[cb1]

I'm sure many people here on NES are familiar with Cory Maye's story. If you're not, you should be. Radley Balko has a great write up here: http://reason.com/archives/2006/10/01/the-case-of-cory-maye

Later, in court, Maye would testify that he awoke to a violent pounding at his front door, as if someone was trying to kick it down. Frightened, he ran to his bedroom, where Tacorriana [his 18 month old daughter] was sleeping. He retrieved the handgun he kept in a stand by the bed, loaded it, and chambered a bullet. He got down on the floor next to the bed, where he held the gun and waited in the dark next to his little girl, hoping the noises outside would subside.

They didn’t. They got worse. The commotion moved from the front of his home to the back, closer to Maye, and just outside the door to the room where he and his daughter were lying.

“Thought someone was trying to break in on me and my child,” Maye testified.

“And how were you feeling?” an attorney asked.

“Frightened,” Maye said. “Very frightened.”

One loud, last crash finally flung the rear door wide open, nearly separating it from its hinges. Seconds later, someone kicked open the bedroom door. A figure rushed up the steep, three-step entrance to the house and entered the room. Maye fired into the darkness, squeezing the trigger three times.

Every time a thread pops up about botched SWAT raids, people wonder what would happen if someone accidentally killed a police officer that was storming their home. In Cory Maye's case he was charged with murder, convicted, and sentenced to death. His case was full of corruption, racism, and epic fail all around. He was eventually granted a new trial by the Mississippi Supreme Court which encouraged the DA to negotiate with Maye's attorneys.

Finally some justice, albeit late and half arsed, is being served:

After 10 years of incarceration, and seven years after a jury sentenced him to die, 30-year-old Cory Maye will soon be going home. Mississippi Circuit Court Judge Prentiss Harrell signed a plea agreement Friday morning in which Maye pled guilty to manslaughter for the 2001 death of Prentiss, Mississippi, police officer Ron Jones, Jr.

Per the agreement, Harrell then sentenced Maye to 10 years in prison, time he has now already served. Maye will be taken to Rankin County, Mississippi, for processing and some procedural work. He is expected to be released within days.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/01/cory-maye-to-be-released-_n_888454.html

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

Ten years of his life lost that he'll never be compensated for. Ten years of companionship, love and fathering that his daughter will never be compensated for.

Justice has not been served.

Honestly, he's lucky he lived through it all given the circumstances.

 

[cbrburns]

Honestly, he's lucky he lived through it all given the circumstances.

This! Today he would have 60 rounds in him!

 

[el duderino]

Not really justice, he should never have agreed to the manslaughter plea but im sure he would have agreed to anything to see his kid again.

 

[CLMN]

While the news story itself is a bittersweet one, I couldn't help but be amused by the comments section. Talk about a bunch of conflicted Huff Post lefties.

On the one hand, the lefties want to support the person in question believing that he was a textbook example of southern racism and all... but on the other hand, that also means supporting his right to defend himself and his daughter with a firearm.

And by the way, can you imagine what the Huff Post comments would be like if the circumstances were turned around and this was a white man being released early after shooting a black cop in a majority black city?

No real winners here. Just losers. A very sad story all around.

CLMN