Clemency for Cory Maye

Cory Maye never wrote a children's book or caught the attention of Snoop Dog or Jamie Foxx. But from all appearances, he's a hell of a lot more deserving of clemency than Stanley"Tookie" Williams.

Maye is on death row in Mississippi right now for killing a police officer. From the new Wikipedia entry:

At 11 p.m. on the night of December 26, 2001, Jones accompanied a seven-member SWAT team from the Pearl River Basin Narcotics Task Force, a four-county police agency responsible for drug enforcement. He was not a member of the team, but had been invited along as he had passed along an confidential tip that large quantities of marijuana were being stored and sold in the apartment of Jamie Smith, who lived in the other half of the duplex. The officers had obtained search warrants for both apartments. Whether the warrants legally allowed for a no-knock entry is still not clear.

While Smith was arrested without incident, and significant quantities of marijuana were found in his home, both Maye's current and former attorneys say Smith was never charged with drug possession or distribution. Jefferson Davis County District Attorney Clarence"Buddy" McDonald says he doesn't remember Smith being charged or convicted.

There is disagreement about what happened next. The officers then either served the warrant on Maye's half of the duplex, or entered what they thought was another door to Smith's in search of more contraband (later, prosecutors would say both were served simultaneously). Attorneys for Mississippi and Maye differ on whether the police clearly identified themselves. Maye, who was asleep at the time of the raid, retreated to his bedroom and readied a .38-caliber pistol. When Jones entered, Maye fired three times. Jones was wearing a bulletproof vest, but it did not cover the area where he was hit, and the injury proved fatal.

Maye had no criminal record, and there were no drugs in his apartment, where he lived with his 18-month-old daughter. This sounds like a case of mistake-of-fact--self-defense gone wrong--since it's hard to believe that a man in no legal jeopardy would decide to shoot one police officer and then surrender. At the very least, we know enough to say that this man should not be executed.

Radley Balko's the only reason we know about this case. His latest is here. And the work he's done on the case may just save a man's life. So spread the word. Saving a guy's life would be a whole lot more impressive and worthwhile than getting Dan Rather fired.