I've finally had some time this week to catch up on the story of
Cory Maye, the man on death row in Mississippi for murdering a police officer.
Radley Balko, at
The Agitator, has been investigating the case. From what
he's found, the State of Mississippi is set to kill someone who is certainly not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and might even be innocent because he believed he was acting in self-defense during a late night drug raid.
On December 26, 2001, Cory Maye was in the duplex unit he had been renting for three weeks in Prentiss, MS with his 18-month-old daughter. It was after 11PM, and 8 members of various local police forces came to the duplex to raid the residence. In carrying out the raid, police came into Maye's half of the duplex, and Officer Ron Jones was shot and killed by Maye. After realizing that he had shot an officer (who also happened to be the Police Chief's son), Maye put down his gun and surrendered. Officer Jones is white. Cory Maye is black.
Even after the trial ended and Maye was quickly convicted and sentenced to death, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the case. Maye's name was not on the warrant used for authorizing the raid, but police insist that both units of the duplex were indicated. Testimony from one of the trials makes that somewhat in doubt, and Maye's first attorney still believes that there was no warrant for Maye's residence. It is also not clear whether the officers involved in the raid announced that they were police officers before the shooting took place. The officer who broke down Maye's door was an ununiformed volunteer, who is not allowed to yell "police." There are also doubts about the forensics expert who testified for the prosecution against Maye.
The raids were based upon evidence from a confidential informant, known to the deceased Officer Jones only, so there is no ability to identify who fingered Maye as a drug dealer. Maye's neighbor, Jamie Smith, was arrested after the police found a large amount of marijuana in his part of the duplex. Officers claimed that Maye was also fingered as a dealer. However, according to the evidence presented at trial, he only had 1.1 grams of marijuana, which couldn't have even gotten all the cops there stoned. Of course, there's some doubt as to how and when those drugs turned up in Maye's apartment, as the cops initially found nothing and obtained a later warrant to conduct another search.
Balko has posted up the trial transcripts (500+ pages in PDF format), and is continuing to do what he can to make this story known outside of the blogosphere.
In other news...
Via Wampum, Libby Spencer posts on the Detroit News website that a rider in the Defense Appropriations bill grants the pharmaceutical industry a very broad immunity from lawsuits under the guise of national security.
The Combat Meth Epidemic Act, added to the Patriot Act by co-sponsors Mark Souder (R-IN) and James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), is tabled for a month along with the rest of the Patriot Act revisions.
Alabama is going to start tracking pain medication prescriptions to look for drug abuse.
Lawyers in Goose Creek, SC are closer to a deal to settle the lawsuit that arose after police raided the school, pointed guns at students, and found absolutely no drugs anywhere.
Drug WarRant points to the story of Janet Lee of Bryn Mawr College, who spent three weeks in jail for having a condom filled with flour (which she used as a stress-ball), and to this article on the GAO's rebuking of Drug Czar John Walters' claim that he's been able to curb cocaine trafficking.
The Executive director of AIDS Project Rhode Island, Christopher A. Butler, writes in support of Rhode Island's medical marijuana bill.
A group of 15-year-olds were arrested in Connecticut after someone's mom found pictures of marijuana for sale on his cell phone.
An East Chicago police officer plead guilty to drug charges as part of a plea deal.
In Winfield, KS (near Wichita), the sheriff's office is passing out stickers to retailers to track products used in producing meth.
A man in Charlevoix, MI (top of the ring finger) was indicted on two federal counts of distributing a controlled substance causing death. Local police did not take part because it is not a crime according to Michigan State law until January 1.
Here's a really interesting article, based on interviews with several middle-aged mothers in Denver who smoke pot regularly.
The group that was successful in passing a marijuana legalization initiative in Denver are now trying to do the same for all of Colorado.
Medical marijuana cardholders in Oregon will be able to possess 1.5 lbs of marijuana and six plants starting on January 1.
The Belltowner posts about a Seattle police officer partying a little too hard in his neighborhood.
Another week, another prosecutor arrested for a drug charge. I always wonder how many of these prosecutors have actually spent a day in court arguing to convict a person of a drug crime, and then gone home and fired up a bowl.
The Palm Desert City Council has put a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries while they come up with a set of regulations.
Loretta Nall has up a post up with a roundup of events in 2005.
Here's a post that gives you an idea of how easy it is to become a "drug trafficker."
I know that this isn't directly drug war related, but the Canadian government complaining about how guns are flowing across the border from the U.S. is just as nonsensical as our government complaining about how drugs are flowing across the border in the other direction.
An interesting British study on heroin users concluded that it's possible to be a long term user without becoming addicted, and that there are an undetermined number of people who use heroin long-term while still maintaining their health and livelihood.
The Dutch government's very progressive, but still contradictory drug policies are explained in this article concerning the attempted crackdown by Maastricht's City Council. On the same topic, The Agitator was disappointed after an event on drug policy at the Dutch Embassy. Last One Speaks has more.
Major drug busts in West Dublin, Ireland and Edinburgh, Scotland.
In Hungary, paramedics in the National Ambulance Service are instructed to no longer call the police when treating drug emergencies.
The new Drug Control Minister in Bermuda is learning on the job, which is more than we can say about Czar Walters.
Two days before Evo Morales was elected in Bolivia, Peruvian coca grower leader Nancy Obregon was arrested.
In Colombia, 28 soldiers were killed in an ambush by FARC after some coca eradication was done in the region. President Uribe is asking the world for help.
79-year-old cancer sufferer Iolanda Figueiral was released from a Brazilian prison weighing 70 pounds. She was arrested after police found crack-cocaine in a house she shares with her son.
In Queensland, Australia, pseudoephedrine is moving behind the counter. If that works as well as it does here, and just moves production to Asia, even more Australians will be sitting on death row there.