Cory Maye

If you don't know who Cory Maye is, my guess is, you will.

Who is Cory Maye? Picture this, if you will: Let's say that...

...cops mistakenly break down the door of a sleeping man, late at night, as part of drug raid. Turns out, the man wasn't named in the warrant, and wasn't a suspect. The man, frightened for himself and his 18-month old daughter, fires at an intruder who jumps into his bedroom after the door's been kicked in. Turns out that the man, who is black, has killed the white son of the town's police chief. He's later convicted and sentenced to death by a white jury. The man has no criminal record, and police rather tellingly changed their story about drugs (rather, traces of drugs) in his possession at the time of the raid.

Interesting. Did I mention this happened in Mississippi? Cory Maye is set to be executed for this crime. Add to this that Maye's original legal counsel was likely quite inadequate and you have a very likely innocent man set to die.

Cory Maye's case is becoming well known after it was discovered by blogger Radley Balko while researching related material. He ran across the case of Cory Maye and blogged his initial findings. Other bloggers across the political spectrum have picked them up and the story has spread. Interestingly, this may someday be one of the first best examples of a story being found by bloggers and eventually picked up by mainstream media and leading to a resolution. At this point, however, the mainstream media has not yet jumped aboard.

You can read all about the story at Balko's blog. I have little doubt from reading the entire story that something extremely fishy has been going on. I suggest reading from the bottom (starting at the beginning) to the top and familiarize yourself with the story if you're interested. Currently, another public defender has taken up Maye's case and Balko's research may have attracted bigwig pro bono representation. Balko recently obtained the original trial transcript and will be posting it online shortly. It seems to me a story that could end up having a documentary made about it (a la Murder on a Sunday Morning). It's shameful that the possibility of injustice still exists in today's courts.

You can continue to follow and read all about the case here. My guess is, though, it won't be only there you hear about Cory Maye for long.