“Frightened,” Maye said. “Very frightened.”
September 22, 2006 9:45 AM   Subscribe

The Case of Cory Maye. A cop is dead, an innocent man may be on death row, and drug warriors keep knocking down doors.
posted by Sticherbeast (26 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is a good report on this sort of thing: Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America.

Also, America is fucked up. Seriously.
posted by chunking express at 9:54 AM on September 22, 2006


Oh, and here is a google maps mash-up of botched police raids.
posted by chunking express at 9:55 AM on September 22, 2006


chunking express: That last link is awesome and horrifying.

Oh, and here's another botched raid, from my old stomping grounds of Upstate New York, the Florida of the North. Via.

I'd been following the Maye case for a bit, and I was a little surprised to see that it hadn't hit here yet. So that article was the impetus to post this here.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:01 AM on September 22, 2006


UPDATE: They've found his charmer of a confidential informant, and Cory Maye's going to be getting a new sentencing hearing, so at least that's something.

Not enough, but something.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:07 AM on September 22, 2006


UPDATE #2: They have declared his trial attorney incompetent for the sentencing part of the trial. Cory Maye is currently no longer on death row until he gets another sentencing trial.

More information here.

posted by Jupiter Jones at 10:32 AM on September 22, 2006


41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots....
and we'll take that ride
'cross this bloody river
to the other side
41 shots... cut through the night
You're kneeling over his body in the vestibule
Praying for his life
posted by basicchannel at 10:36 AM on September 22, 2006


That google maps mash-up chunking express posted is terrifying, though I was surprised to see only one incident in my neighborhood, whereas I see cops acting in a questionable manner there all the time. About 2 months ago, for instance, as i turned the corner onto my block to park my car, the police vehicle in front of me stopped. 2 officers stepped out and approached three high school aged kids standing on the corner, had them turn to face a fence, and started patting them down. Another kid just walking past is also drawn in and patted down, made to remove his belt. After about ten minutes, the cops finding nothing, they get back in there car, and go only half way down the block, repeat the process and then enter into a house. While I couldn't hear what was going on I saw no evidence of a search warrant or of the cops being invited in. I don't think I even need to mention that all the people targeted by the police in this case were either hispanic or black. Throughout these events, more cops kept showing up -- an excessive presence with no cause and nothing found. Made me really mad.
posted by jrb223 at 10:41 AM on September 22, 2006


This is a good report on this sort of thing: Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America.

You realize both pieces have the same author, who is a mefite.
posted by Kwantsar at 10:46 AM on September 22, 2006


the informant:

Gentry:

Yeah, this is Mr. Randy Gentry. Hey, I got to thinkin' about my friend. I got yo' message this morning, Bob. Y'all -- y'all threaten me all you want to and everything. I don't like fuckin' niggers from jump street but call me or whatever and I'll -- but the day I burn five cents on gas to help that fuckin' cocksucker Cory Maye get out of jail is going to be a hell of a damn day. But -- uh -- if you want ot talk to me like a fuckin' white man, you talk. But don't threaten me on bullshit. Get your NAACP motherfuckers -- I don't give a fuck -- niggers, bro, fuck niggers! But I'll tell you what. That's a good friend of mine they killed, buddy. I'll -- I'll tell you anything. I'll -- I'll be honest with you as fuckin' gum (?) street. But I don't like no motherfucker talkin' shit to me or about my friends. Alright, well look here. Call me today and look here. Y'all buy my fuckin' gas, the NAACP buy my fuckin' gas I'll come talk to y'all or whatever. But look here. I'm -- I'm a poor-ass motherfucker too, bro. Call me. You got my fuckin' number. Don't piss me fuckin' off.

posted by empath at 10:47 AM on September 22, 2006


This seems to be a clear violation of his 2nd Amendment rights. What does bearing arms mean if it doesn't include shooting armed strangers who are kicking your bedroom door down in the middle of the night?

I'd like to think that all the weaponry tucked away in American bedrooms would deter police from carrying out raids like this, but I'm not that naive.
posted by Nahum Tate at 10:49 AM on September 22, 2006


Cop pepper sprays and arrests girl for (supposedly) giving him the wrong change (youtube)

While the girl had a bit of an attitude, the cop was entirely in the wrong and in the end, the girl got $60K from the police department. Unfortunately, due to stupid labor laws and unions, they were forced to *rehire* the officer.
posted by mrbill at 10:50 AM on September 22, 2006


Police are bloody men that wear masks of impassiveness to hide the shame and guilt that is issued them along with their badges, guns and batons. Their self-hatred robs them of words until all that is left are deeds and empty statements of remorse made to the newspapermen that drink deeply of spilled blood and from this feast produce overheated articles decrying the decline of morality and decency.

Still, it's impossible to hate them. If we ask them to exercise moral judgement in their actions then we run the risk of those batons being wielded against us because an officer disagrees with our specific interpretation of morality; instead, the only way the police can fairly govern ordered society is to reduce them to little more than thugs for the law - guns hired by the politicans to enforce their crooked laws and corrupted ideals.
It's a mercenary position, one that is necessary but tarnishes the soul of anyone desperate enough to enter a bargain with power to patrol the alleys of society in exchange for common dollars, pieces of paper that say they're worth something to someone. It is no co-incidence that police are chronically underpaid; as whole persons, they're nearly worthless. The only part of a police officer that matters is the arm they use to swing their batons, the hand that pulls the trigger, the fist that subdues characters that have been deemed undesirable.

It is no surprise that these hired killers sometimes err, lose control of the artificial control imposed on them by constructs of "right" and "wrong" and "justice" and yield control to the arm, hand or fist that is the only part of them worth anything. The rest is merely life support for the parts that can hurt and kill, and one must imagine that after years on the force they internalize this fact and tend towards letting the gun speak for itself without exercising any rational control over it.
posted by kfx at 10:51 AM on September 22, 2006 [7 favorites]


See. If people were not allowed to have guns, they wouldn't accidentally shoot police while their apartment was being raided!
posted by delmoi at 11:04 AM on September 22, 2006


While the girl had a bit of an attitude, the cop was entirely in the wrong and in the end, the girl got $60K from the police department. Unfortunately, due to stupid labor laws and unions, they were forced to *rehire* the officer.

Wow, you've got to love the chipper announcer guy on that video.
posted by delmoi at 11:09 AM on September 22, 2006


Kwanstar, yes I knew he wrote both articles. I am pretty sure i've read other stuff by him as well. I didn't know he was a mefite though. Strange.
posted by chunking express at 11:28 AM on September 22, 2006


Jeez, nice country you guys got. All that liberty and freedom sounds fantastic, can't wait to get me some of that.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:49 AM on September 22, 2006


It's kind of sad, but for a person to have a real shot at getting his/her case looked at for police abuse, the case needs to have a conservative "hook" to it. In this case pro-gun groups are also upset.
Then there was the case of Wayne Dumond. He was in prison for rape. His hook was the victim was a distant relative of Clinton (this was Arkansas) and the sheriff kept Wayne's testicles in a jar in his office. (The sheriff claimed the person castrated himself, newspapers suggested that he was castrated out of revenge via the victim.)
Because it had the added value of Clinton-bashing, a public outcry was made and Dumond was released was prison. It didn't seem to matter he had three previous rape convictions along with a conviction for accomplice to murder. During his short time out of prison he killed again. He committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial for yet another murder.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:06 PM on September 22, 2006


Jeez, kfx. I'm fairly libertarian and I don't share your levels of resentment. Police fulfill a necessary role in the executive, as do prosecutors. They are no more monsters than they are heroes. It's not useful that we love or hate them, it's useful that we force all public servants to abide by the strictures of the Constitution.
posted by kid ichorous at 12:29 PM on September 22, 2006


"They were mine. Those were my testicles," DuMond told a sickened courtroom in 1988. "He didn't have no right to take them and he didn't have no right to show them around and he didn't have no right to flush them down the toilet."
posted by dead_ at 12:30 PM on September 22, 2006


It's perplexing and marginally damning, in my eyes, that with the technology we have at our disposal that these kinds of incidents aren't recorded in some way. Video might be impractical but audio? I can buy an olympus recorder that does 11 hours off the shelf for under $70. We can't strap these things to every officer who's about to engage in an armed raid on a civilian house?
posted by phearlez at 12:33 PM on September 22, 2006


Man, look at New Mexico on that map. It's well-known in this state that Albuquerque cops are crazy, but I had no idea the problem was that localized. I'm lucky the cop who pulled me over only hit my car with his Maglite!

Still, it's impossible to hate them.

Speak for yourself. I don't find it difficult at all.
posted by vorfeed at 12:36 PM on September 22, 2006


Oh good. Another police bashing thread wherein we stereotype a large category of people and say hateful things about them, in order to show our best asshole colours. Way to go, MeFi!
posted by raedyn at 2:42 PM on September 22, 2006


On a tangent from SWAT, but right on point with Louisiana in-justice...The Vincent Simmons case presents a lot of the same attributes. Simmons is represented in the Jonathan Stack film 'The Farm', which deals with Angola prison. He was sentenced to 100 years for rapes in which a specific perp couldn't be identified by the victims because 'all niggers look the same'. He was also convicted despite doctor's evidence which proved that at least one victim was still a virgin. He was picked out of a lineup...In which he was the only person in handcuffs.

Worth a look for anyone who cares, and alternately for anyone who thinks that justice is still alive in this country; particularly for a black man in the South.
posted by rollbiz at 9:04 PM on September 22, 2006


raedyn, did you just bash mefi users for being hateful, stereotyping assholes?
posted by ryanrs at 12:34 AM on September 23, 2006


=D
posted by dozo at 5:19 PM on September 23, 2006




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