Radley Balko over at The Agitator has been writing a number of posts that would be of interest to readers of this blawg. For one, he has several posts about the Militarization of Mayberry (I do not have links to many of the stories, so if you are interested, check the archives). Since September 11, 2001, the federal government has been providing local law enforcement with more money to fight terrorism. Many small police agencies suddenly now have enough money for SWAT teams, automatic rifles, etc. It's hard to see why some town of 15,000 people in the middle of, say, Montana would need such equipment, but they get it. It's not hard to imagine that things would get out of hand.
Radley, in conjunction with this, has been writing about abusive police procedures, such as police over-eager to use their Tasers or problems with no-knock raids. In writing about this, he came across the case of Cory Maye. He has several posts about Mr. Maye (which can be found here, here, and here, among other places. Scroll down to see updates about his investigation). Mr. Maye was renting a duplex in Mississippi. His 1-year old daughter lived with him. Police got a tip from an anonymous informant that Mr. Jamie Smith, who lived in the other half of the duplex, was selling drugs. So, they executed a no-knock warrant in the middle of the night. For those who are not versed in the law, this is significant because police generally have to prove that there is sufficient probability of violence or destruction of evidence to be able to conduct a no-knock warrant. Otherwise, they have to announce who they are and what they are doing there. Further, some jurisdictions, including Alaska, specifically limit the time that warrants can be served to reasonable hours, usually between 8:00 am and about 9:00 pm. To serve a warrant at another time requires some justification.
Anyway, in the middle of the night, the police break into the wrong house, the one where Cory Maye lives, not where Jamie Smith lives. Cory Maye, hearing the commotion, picks up a gun and shoots at one of the officers. He hits the officer below his bullet-proof vest. The officer, the son of the local police chief, was white. He dies from his wounds. Maye is black. He went to trial and was convicted and sentenced to death. It is a really sad story. Radley has apparently done some more digging and is generating a fair amount of interest (TalkLeft and Instapundit have reported about this case). For example, at trial, the cops claimed that there were two names on the search warrant: Maye's and Jamie Smith, the guy who lived in the other part of the duplex. Radley, though, talks to the court clerk and sees that the cops never had a warrant to search Maye's house. The prosecutor on the case emailed Radey about the case. Radley sent the DA some queestions about the case and the DA answers. Very interesting and required reading for readers of this blawg. It's also a good exhibit against the death penalty, no-knock raids, and the War on Drugs.
Comments