The Death Row Case of Corey Maye

I learned of this young Black man's situation when I visited Keith Boykin's website the other night. I was both amazed and angered by what I read and how this man's life has been ruined and could possibly ended by execution if pressure isn't put on the state of Mississippi to overturn the death row ruling made against Corey Maye.

The Background
Corey Maye, a young Black man was convicted of capitol murder when he shot a White police officer in what appears to be self defense, during an improperly executed police sting operation in December of 2001. They had obtained information that drugs were being sold out of the duplex where Maye lived. The police had a warrant for someone else who lived in the duplex (but not with Maye) and they also had another one to search his apartment as well, though they didn't have Maye's name on the other warrant as he wasn't a suspect. Apparently they failed to realize the apartment they chose to break into first wasn't the intended suspect, but was Maye's residence. The time of the sting was around midnight and Maye was reported to have been sleeping when they busted into his apartment without warning. In an attempt to protect himself from harm, since he was sleeping and only knew that someone had broken into his apartment, he grabbed his gun and shot at one of the people coming through his door. Unfortunately these were police officers and the one he shot, died from his injuries. To make matters worse, the cop he shot, happened to be the son of the towns police chief at that time. And the tragic life of Corey Maye begins......

Some information on the case:

• Maye had no prior criminal record.
• The police originally said they found no drugs in his apartment. This statement was later changed to say that they found a trace of marijuana in the apartment.
• When he went to trial the jury was made up of 10 White's and 2 Black's. The jury came back with the decision that he was guilty and should be punished by death.
• To this day Corey Maye sits on death row awaiting execution.
• According to Maye's former lawyer,who states she interviewed a couple of the jurors after the trial, his conviction by the jury didn't come from concrete evidence of the case, but rather on their judgments that he had been spoiled by his mother and grandmother and their belief that he was disrespectful of elders. They were also upset by a remark that was made by his attorney at the time. According to Maye's former lawyer, these things are the basis for their decision to sentence him to capitol punishment.

The Movement
Obviously this is a HUGE injustice and the life of this Black man in Mississippi has been deemed expendable by a majority White jury who apparently didn't even convict him on evidence from the case. Had they done this, it seems pretty clear cut that it was a case of self defense and not murder. Would the case have turned out different if the cop killed were not the police chief's son? If the "victim" was not White? If Maye was White and not Black? We'll never have these answers, but we do have options to help correct this situation.

A man by the name of Radley Balko has taken up the cause of undoing the injustice done to Corey Maye. He has dedicated a section of his website called The Agitator to an investigation into the case of Maye. He has tons of interesting information on there including links to actual police documents filed against Maye. He also has a 30 minute interview he did with a radio program where he details the history of the case and the findings so far.

This case has been making its way around the Blog circuit, but hasn't made it much outside of it. Balko and others are trying to get major media to grab ahold of this story to bring attention to it and hopefully pressure on the state of Mississippi to overturn this ruling. In an effort to help get the word out, I am planning to send an email to a few of the nationally syndicated Black radio shows to see if they will take up this cause. I encourage anyone who reads about this case and feels this man has been unjustly treated to do your part to bring some media attention to this issue. I hope that through our collective efforts, we can tap into the larger mass media and in turn help to save this innocent man's life.

For More information Visit:
The Agitator
Keith Boykin's Article
News Article