The Case of Cory Maye

A cop is dead, an innocent man may be on death row, and drug warriors keep knocking down doors.

Radley Balko from the October 2006 issue

(Page 3 of 7)

‘This Is Still Mississippi’

I first discovered the case of Cory Maye in December 2005, while doing research for a Cato Institute paper on the sharply increased use of paramilitary tactics in domestic policing. After reading a few local articles about the case, I grew suspicious of Maye’s conviction. I called his original attorney, Rhonda Cooper, and asked the Jefferson Davis County clerk for a copy of the search warrants. Eventually I wrote about what I’d found on my personal weblog, theagitator.com. During the next few weeks, the case began to attract attention and sympathy from around the Internet. Interestingly, the concern came from writers of all political persuasions. A Google search on Maye conducted early in my investigation returned about 30 hits. A similar search today returns 186,000.

In early March 2006, Reason sent me to Prentiss to research this article: to see the town, talk with locals, and interview Maye’s family. (Maye’s attorneys declined to let me speak to Maye himself, a decision that’s not unusual for a death penalty case still early in the appeals process.) By this time, I was more of an advocate than a dispassionate journalist. Shortly after I began writing about the case, an associate with the large D.C. law firm Covington and Burling contacted me about providing pro bono representation for Maye, as did the conservative George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr. I put both in touch with Maye’s current lawyer, Bob Evans, and both are now part of his legal team.

Prentiss is the seat of Jefferson Davis County, one of the poorest corners of the country. According to census data, the town lost about 9 percent of its population between 2000 and 2004. It has a lower mean household income, lower home values, and higher unemployment than the averages in Mississippi, a state that ranks near the bottom on most economic indicators.

At the Prentiss town center, bright green banners advertising “Historic Downtown Prentiss” flap over bare storefronts, boarded-up display windows, and mostly vacant lots. The town’s biggest employers are the hospital, the schools, and the city and county governments. The last factory in town—a Cadillac parts manufacturer called KLH Industries—left for Mexico in 1999, taking 600 jobs with it. Unemployment jumped to 25 percent. The south side of town features a few signs of life—gas stations, a florist, a tobacconist, some fast food franchises—but little beyond services and light retail.

The area’s economic woes and bleak prospects have fostered drug activity and homicide. In 2002 the county made the front page of The New York Times as part of a story about the drug trade’s move from urban to rural America. Prentiss is known in the area as a junction in the illicit drug pipeline running from New Orleans to Jackson up to Memphis. Residents note the comparatively expensive new homes that have sprung up alongside the ramshackle trailers and bedraggled flats on Mississippi Route 13 and conclude that they could only have come from drug money. “There’s nothing here” economically, one local business owner told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger in 2004, “but there’s lots of shiny cars.”

The county’s homicide rate in 2002 was five times the national average. Residents fear the crime, but they don’t seem to trust the cops to do much about it. When I ask what they think of the local police, most residents answer, “Corrupt.” They’re happy to talk with me, but they don’t want me quoting them by name. When I ask why, they say things like, “Murders never seem to get solved around here.”

The most striking impression I get is the pervasive, suffocating role race plays in everyday life. The fear and paranoia from black residents can be overwhelming. But even to someone generally skeptical about claims of racial discrimination (as I am), it’s utterly convincing. When people in the area talk about why they don’t trust law enforcement, you hear the same cops named over and over again. You hear about many of the same incidents, then learn that the officers involved never really stop policing; they just move from one department to another. It takes me just a few hours in Prentiss to find another woman who says she too was on the receiving end of a violent, forced-entry drug raid. Though the police didn’t find the meth lab they were looking for, they nevertheless jailed her brother for months (he couldn’t afford bond) before releasing him without explanation. The Monticello County Sheriff’s Department, where the man was jailed, claims he was bound over to circuit court for trial. But eight months later, he has yet to be charged or tried.

And it’s not just civilians who make such accusations. One black officer warns me not to trust what I hear from white cops in the area. “The badge and the gun don’t mean anything,” the officer says. “It doesn’t mean they found what they say they found.”

Mississippi has tried to make amends for its past, but some areas of the state still lag behind the rest of the country when it comes to race. Jefferson Davis County is one of them. “Jackson’s a pretty modern city,” says Andre de Gruy, the earnest, eloquent young lawyer who heads up the state’s legal aid program for death row inmates. De Gruy, a white man in his 30s, works with two other lawyers in a modest office overlooking the dig where the state’s new Supreme Court will be built. “In the northwest, you have the Memphis suburbs,” he continues. “The Gulf Coast development down around the casinos is comparatively enlightened too.” He pauses. “But just about everywhere else, this is still Mississippi.”

Another defense attorney is blunter. “We don’t lynch black people outside of Mississippi courthouses anymore,” he says. “But we still lynch them on the inside.”

“White people control this town,” one black woman tells me from her driveway. The short, thirtyish black man standing next to her nods in agreement. Neither wishes to be identified. “They run it from the police department, the hospital, and City Hall. Oh, and Prentiss Christian,” she adds. Prentiss Christian is the private, overwhelmingly white school where the town’s few residents with money send their kids. “All of them are racist,” she continues, referring to public officials and law enforcement. More than one resident tells me that during Hurricane Katrina black folks who had been waiting in line for hours to get emergency supplies were told to go home, due to the curfew. When they returned the next day, they say, the supplies were gone. It’s hard to know whether to believe the story; it seems awfully blatant. But the assumption of racial animosity behind it is unmistakable. The people who tell me the story believe it, and after a few days in Prentiss I can’t help feeling they have every reason to.

Jefferson Davis County is about 60 percent black, while Prentiss is about 70 percent white. The town’s mayor, aldermen, and police chief are white, but Jefferson Davis County Sheriff Henry McCullum is black. There is palpable tension between the two police forces. White residents generally have good things to say about the Prentiss Police Department and sneer at the sheriff’s department. Black residents generally trust the sheriff’s deputies but fear the Prentiss officers. New York Times reporter Fox Butterfield—author of the aforementioned front-page story about Prentiss—told me in a phone interview that the town’s white police officers cautioned him not to consult McCullum for the story. McCullum was a black man, they told Butterfield, and he couldn’t be trusted.

The saddest thing about Officer Ron Jones’ death is that Jones seems to have been an exception to all of this racial antagonism. Evans says Jones was “a good cop and a good guy.” Even black residents who feel nothing but ill will toward the Prentiss police speak highly of Jones. One black man recounts to me an incident in which police pulled him over for speeding, searched his car, and were preparing to take him to jail, despite the fact that they’d found nothing incriminating. Jones arrived at the scene, calmed everyone down, and told the officers to let the man go. “He was one of the good ones,” he says. Another woman summarizes the black community’s relationship with Jones by saying simply, “He was a friend.”

‘Sometimes People Do Irrational Things’

Comments

|10.10.09 @ 2:53AM|#

excellent article, both compelling and documented, you're a credit to the field of writing.

Ratko|12.9.09 @ 5:08PM|#

You said it, Steve, spot on.

Radley's articles almost always inspire thought, and can be credited for changing some of my long held opinions and beliefs.

One such opinion was that of our justice system, it's not perfect, but despite the fact my core system of values dictates that should one man suffer unequal treatment the system is not just, I was willing to accept it as is. It's not acceptable, with so much power in the hands of so few, and little oversight by the rarest creature of all, the authentic watchdog, there is little incentive to make it acceptable.

Back home in Phoenix, I knew a Cory who is Black. He too shot and killed a cop in a botched bust involving illicit drugs.

Both Corys faced similar charges, but the one I knew had a prior record and was found not guilty. It was an undercover narcotics officer his case, he was apparently making the bust without first announcing he was a law officer he attempted to draw his firearm, an action that resulted in his death.

Phoenix Cory was unaware he was dealing with a police officer, so assumed he was being shot. His reaction was to counter draw his pistol in an attempt to fire first, he was successful.

The mistakes made by the state didn't end there, they continued, one was withholding the name and identity of the man he had killed as a police officer until just prior to his trial.

Ultimately his action in the shooting was deemed justifiable. Sometimes, as in this case the system works.

Other times, as in the case of the other Cory, it's nothing more than a human being's fate being decided by the spin of a rigged wheel of misfortune.

The 21st century and this is the best we can manage? "..a boot stamping on a human face.." How much longer until the face won't have to be our very own before we can realize the serious consequences of allowing such an action. We better wake up soon, once we pass the point of no return, our power to influence these matters has ended - forever.

Pingback| 11.17.09 @ 3:11PM

Twitter Trackbacks for The Case of Cory Maye - Reason Magazine [reason.com] on Topsy links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Topsy to Your Blog Turn tweets into comments for your WordPress blog. Topsy Plugin – WordPress Shortened Links Linking to the reason.com page http://is.gd/4XkqB   2 tweets retweet The Case of Cory Maye - Reason Magazine reason.com/archives/2006/10/01/the-case-of-cory-maye – view page – cached A cop is dead, an innocent man may be on death row, and drug warriors keep knocking down doors. 2 All 2…

Pingback| 11.17.09 @ 9:32PM

All Libertarians Only Care About Taxes and White People § Unqualified Offerings links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Crack rock, rolling paper, switchblade | Main | November 17, 2009 All Libertarians Only Care About Taxes and White People By Mona Everyone “knows” that, right? Well Radley Balko’s Pulitzer-worthy journalism was the sine qua non of this. Or at least, his publicity-generating investigations mean that Cory Maye will now have a superb defense team. (And for those who may not know, Maye is an…

Pingback| 11.19.09 @ 2:43AM

Why you should care about Cory Maye and Cameron Todd Willingham » North by Northweste links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Writing Politics Multimedia Magazine RSS Why You Should Care / Nov. 18, 2009 at 11:20 pm Why you should care about Cory Maye and Cameron Todd Willingham By Matt Zeitlin It’s hard to imagine a more depressing story than that of Cory Maye. In September, 2001, when he was just 21 years old, Maye fell asleep on the couch of his duplex in Prentiss, Mississippi. Hours later, armed men assaulted his home and burst into his…

|11.21.09 @ 1:32AM|#

This is absurd, self defense is a god given right, this cop crossed the line, and got what he had coming. I've got nothing against cops per-say, but when they use Nazi tactics, and lose, justice turns pervert. It's not even justice anymore, our system is so corrupt, and one sided, you are NOT presumed innocent,until you can prove it beyond doubt, any doubt. The second one sets foot in a courtroom, they're guilty, and the court is prejudice.

|11.21.09 @ 1:37AM|#

This is absurd, self defense is a god given right, this cop crossed the line, and got what he had coming. I've got nothing against cops per-say, but when they use Nazi tactics, and loose, justice turns pervert. It's not even justice anymore, our system is so corrupt, and one sided, you are NOT presumed innocent,until you can prove it beyond doubt, any doubt. The second one sets foot in a courtroom, they're guilty, and the court is prejudice.

|11.21.09 @ 4:17AM|#

A really simple solution to the problem of "he said, he said", would be to mandate by law recording devices be present during these raids. A man's life hinges upon whether the police shouted "Police!" before he started shooting at them. How simple it would have been to have a video, or even audio recording of the raid.
The standard of proof would be statutorily pegged, that if the police did not make the recording, in violation of law, then the presumption of credibility will lie with the defendant.

|11.21.09 @ 10:43PM|#

Want to make a CHANGE in Mississippi? Take 3 minutes and sign my petition! You'll be glad you did!
http://www.gopetition.com/online/25939.html

Pingback| 12.18.09 @ 2:08PM

TheDrug War - Political Fever - The Political Debate Forums links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…to an erosion of civil liberties, and things that can have disastrous results. For example, the rash of botched no-knock paramilitary-style raids that kill innocent pets and people, and sometimes innocent people kill cops. Neighborhoods are shut down by military-style occupations. Harmless Hippie stoners are threatened and forced to become informants, and the results can be fatal. The corruption of law enforcement is…

Pingback| 1.12.10 @ 9:57AM

Cory Maye - On Death Row After Defending His Daughter In Half-Assed Drug Raid - Gree links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Baked User   Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,454 Thanks: 1,532 Thanked 1,874 Times in 843 Posts Rep Power: 500 Cory Maye - On Death Row After Defending His Daughter In Half-Assed Drug Raid The Case of Cory Maye - Reason Magazine __________________ My first grow! Check it out! (Perpetual Round Two! Starting at post #61 ) Cannabis is a transformation, f(x), such that -> and -> . Do the math and smoke! «…

Pingback| 1.12.10 @ 10:30AM

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…0px 0px 10px;} td.recentcommentstextend { border: none !important; padding:0px 0px 2px 10px;} // Meet Cory Mayes. Someone kicked in his back door, barged into his child’s bedroom, and got shot. Mayes was sentenced to death, because the man in question was a cop on a drug raid. This article made me rage. reason.com 17:30 on 2010/01/12 | Permalink | Reply | 0 -   Reply Click here to cancel reply. Name…

|1.12.10 @ 10:31AM|#

Is anyone actually surprisd by this? I mean really?

Kelp
www.web-privacy.se.tc

|1.12.10 @ 1:21PM|#

anyone who lives in that county knows who the informant was and that individual was a racist himself. If you seen him he would be yelling "WHITE POWER!" To me it sounds like bad info from a bad informant...plain and simple!

Mark|1.12.10 @ 5:41PM|#

Burn in Hell Cory Maye, you deserve it.

|7.1.11 @ 6:26PM|#

you red neck hillbilly come up north and talk that smack i will show you just what it is like to feel the fires of hell,God remembers all..and he is coming home so put that in ur pipe and smoke it u blue eyed devil

Pingback| 1.13.10 @ 6:12AM

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Top 10 Cannabis Studies the Government Wished it Had Never Funded - Political Forum links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…true); Analyst   Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Minnesota Posts: 2,281 Credits: 11,857 Meet Cory Mayes. Someone kicked in his back door, barged into his child's bedroom, and got shot. Mayes was sentenced to death, because the man in question was a cop on a drug raid. __________________ "The Arab states which had encouraged the Palestinian Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in…

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Tom Conlon Fans » My Shared Items: Week of January 9th, 2010 links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…pledge with remarkable courage. This is history, folks! Skywalkers in Korea Cross Han Solo – washingtonpost.com – I usually hate headline puns but that is just genius. The Case of Cory Maye – Reason Magazine – Shoveling Snow with Buddha by Billy Collins – What Stimulus? Road Projects Aren't Boosting Jobs Much – CNBC – Thanks, Bryan! Irrational fears give nuclear…

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Briefly Noted: James W. Ceaser, “The Roots of Obama Worship” links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…attitudes about race. I do not want to mention names, but believe me, outside of UVA and Stanford racism is alive and well and nasty, nasty stuff. I love this country, but I would be crazy to ignore cases like this: The most striking impression I get is the pervasive, suffocating role race plays in everyday life. The fear and paranoia from black residents can be overwhelming. But even to someone generally…

Pingback| 4.19.10 @ 12:15AM

The new Slave Masters | The Libertarian Standard links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…such convictions. Just as in the past, blacks had nearly no ability to exercise self-defense without severe negative repercussions, so today do people of all races have nearly no ability to defend themselves against thuggery from the elite class. In light of the new reality, why don’t we reinvigorate some proud American traditions? Police departments already cooperate in apprehending fugitives, so the…

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BWM|12.2.10 @ 9:06PM|#

I like the article. It amazes me that conservatives and even alot of liberals have so much faith in police. The police are like the military; an essential part of the government, but exceedingly dangerous, and a tool to be kept under a careful eye at all times. When civilian deaths are shrugged off and police deaths mean war, the state has completely subverted it's role. They serve US, after all.

|12.6.10 @ 4:33PM|#

The Drug Police are running wild in this country & must be stopped. Thank the Lord & thank the judge-why is he unnamed?

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Nothing against the article, but I disagree with a couple of points to some extenct. I’m probably a minority though, lol. Thanks for sharing.

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دردشة|6.23.11 @ 9:56PM|#

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|7.1.11 @ 4:53PM|#

It's so sad in the day & age that's things like this still happen.
Thank you for bringing this to light Mr. Balko. I am sorry Mr. Maye last ten years of his life; Mississippi is such a sorry state. Thank God I don't live there.

|7.1.11 @ 6:22PM|#

@ mark if anyone is going to burn in hell it will be you for saying that God remembers all come up
north and talk that trash,see God took care of him no matter what you say cause he is coming home so put that in ur pipe and smoke it you red neck hillbilly

Gabe|7.4.11 @ 8:04AM|#

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M|7.7.11 @ 4:26AM|#

Jesus Christ, Reason magazine, can't you

a) have a decent spam filter
and
b) have a "this is spam" button by each comment?

قبلة الوداع|8.17.11 @ 10:22PM|#

ThaNk U