Now Playing at Reason.tv: Mississippi Drug War Blues—The Case of Cory Maye

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[CSI]

I'm sure its excellent, but I don't think I could stand watching that video at the moment. As I noted in the thread about Tracy Ingle, it now seems to be the de facto position of police across America that if you become aware of someone trying to break into your home, you are to automatically assume they are police and immediately become completely passive and submissive. Why don't they make this their official policy? Perhaps they're afraid that this would make it a little too obvious that many police regard the constitution and bill of rights with complete contempt.

[UCrawford]

Great piece, Radley. Very well done. The telephone call made by the racist CI was particularly shocking.

BTW, it appears to have knocked all of your other May posts off your site

[Radley Balko]

Thanks, but my role in the video was mostly advisory. Paul Feine and Roger Richards deserve the credit. I think they did a tremendous job.

[jmr]

I'm amazed that despite Radley's excellent journalism (or maybe because of it, if my theories about antilibertarian media bias are correct, as it seems!) the political left doesn't latch on to this case.

What is it about "Mumia" that they love so much, anyway?? It can't be the gun, they hate those, so it must be some deep, intellectual reason -- like the fact that "Mumia" changed his name to something politically-correct & revolutionary-sounding. Perhaps Mr. Maye should consider changing his name in order to get "mainstream" attention?
JMR

[Rhywun]

you are to automatically assume they are police

And why not. It probably is, anyway.

What is it about "Mumia" that they love so much, anyway??

He's one of their own? Mr. Maye is just some guy, just living a boring life. Where's the interest in that.

[Joseph]

Why are you defending this guy? He killed a cop, is that supposed to not incur a penalty. I feel bad for him because it was perhaps an accident, but this has to be a strict liability issue. Didn't they identify themselves? Even if he suspected that they were not cops, why didn't he call the police instead of shooting?

[Brandon]

Joseph, are you kidding me?

Cops take about 5-15 minutes to arrive on a scene.

If they weren't cops, he could have been murdered before then.

If you break and enter into someone's house-whether you're a cop, a criminal, or a girl scout-you run the risk of getting shotted dead.

[Andrew]

Joseph -- Why couldn't he have called the cops? Because if they weren't cops, he likely would've been dead before someone on the other end of the phone could answer.

The "self-defense" defense to murder is based on whether the defendant, subjectively, had a REASONABLE BELIEF that he was in immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury. When someone's bashing down your back door in the middle of the night, that's gonna give you a pretty reasonable belief in that respect.

As for identifying themselves as cops, the cops say they did, Maye says they didn't, but I don't think it matters either way. Just read a case the other day out of Brooklyn where they arrested a gang who had been breaking into the homes and cars of drug dealers by identifying themselves as police.

[Joseph]

Joseph -- Why couldn't he have called the cops? Because if they weren't cops, he likely would've been dead before someone on the other end of the phone could answer.

Well that is the liberal response.

The "self-defense" defense to murder is based on whether the defendant, subjectively, had a REASONABLE BELIEF that he was in immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury.

What if their cops?

[Joseph]

If you break and enter into someone's house-whether you're a cop, a criminal, or a girl scout-you run the risk of getting shotted dead.

You'd better be sure they aren't cops.

[Mike Laursen]

It's great that Drew Carey lends his name with these reason videos. All of the videos so far have been about relatively light-weight subjects where most people are likely to agree, but this time he's really sticking his neck out.

[Andrew]

@Joseph:

Well that is the liberal response.

Well isn't that a nice non-sequitur. I'm not a liberal. Nor am I a conservative. You, however, are a troll. But I'm going to continue responding cuz I'm bored.

What if their cops?

I'll ignore the grammatical error there.

It doesn't matter if they're cops. The self-defense law doesn't have an "unless they're cops" exception. It's a reasonable belief that your life is in danger. If you KNOW they're cops, that's one thing. But Mr. Maye didn't know they were cops.

[JW]

Why are you defending this guy?

You must be new here. Feel free to use this new tool called a search engine to educate yourself before asking so many ignorant questions/statements.

[J sub D]

Didn't they identify themselves? Even if he suspected that they were not cops, why didn't he call the police instead of shooting?

Errr, even if it were criminals, calling 9-1-1 might not have helped.

[Nick M.]

Joseph | May 8, 2008, 11:13am | #

Joseph -- Why couldn't he have called the cops? Because if they weren't cops, he likely would've been dead before someone on the other end of the phone could answer.

Well that is the liberal response.

Now that's just funny. It's typically the gun-hating liberals who espouse the idea that it is better to call the police than engage in self defense.

And, as J sub D pointed out, there is absolutely no guarantee that the cops will even show up.

[TallDave]

Very good work Radley. This case is such a horribly perfect example of what a mess the WOD has become.

You break down a guy's door, he's going to defend his home. What's the confusion here? Is that connection really so hard to make?

In the old days, you didn't break down a guy's door unless he was already so dangerous it was more risky NOT to break down the door.

We repealed Prohibition for a reason. Having "morality police" doesn't work any better now than it did then, or any better here than in Saudi Arabia or under the Taliban.

[ghezbora]

Why does it matter if the police identified themselves? Either way, what Cory did was reasonable. Any idiot can yell "police." There is no way for police to authenticate their identity in a dynamic entry situation, it's simply impossible. The decision to shoot or not shoot takes place before any opportunity to confirm their identity. Ergo, it is reasonable to shoot at armed intruders, even the ones that yell "police."

[JW]

Holy shit J sub, that's horrible.

Stop competing with Radley to depress me.

[R C Dean]

Ergo, it is reasonable to shoot at armed intruders, even the ones that yell "police."

There's no way to confirm that their cops unless they present their credentials in a civilized fashion.

[Paul]

Please, everyone, Joseph is a troll.

[Windypundit]

"There is no way for police to authenticate their identity in a dynamic entry situation, it's simply impossible."

Yeah, that's really starting to piss me off. Cops in these botched raids always say they identified themselves as cops.

Bullshit. To identify themselves as cops, they'd have to show a badge and police ID.

They didn't identify themselves as cops, they just claimed to be cops, which is something anyone can do.

[the innominate one]

Joseph:

the castle doctrine. very conservative and traditional.

now, fuck off and die.