If you are already familiar with Cory Maye’s case, you may choose to sign the petition now and skip the rest of this diary, though there is more that you can do beyond signing the online petition.
This tragic story received some attention in the blogosphere back in December, but Cory Maye still sits on death row in Mississippi while the press ignores the injustice which put him there. (Notice the disgraceful absence of any big name papers or news organizations in this search.) If you read the transcripts of the trial (provided by The Agitator), it is untenable that the state tried Maye for any crime beyond manslaughter, for the tragic death of officer Jones. If you believe Maye’s very plausible testimony (pdf), you would conclude that he acted in self-defense, fearing for the life of his baby daughter.
I am convinced that with the proper attention, Cory Maye will be freed to help raise his daughter by the end of this year, and quite possibly exonerated.
It is in our power as Americans, concerned about justice and equal treatment under the law, to bring that attention to this case, and insist that Maye’s conviction be overturned. As a death row inmate, we can make a reasoned appeal to Mississippi’s Governor Haley Barbour to grant Maye an unconditional pardon, and that is exactly what this petition does.
As Angelica at Battle Panda has documented, this case has drawn sympathetic attention from all sides of the blogosphere, left, right, and libertarian. Libertarian blogger, Radley Balko, has been tireless in his effort to raise its profile. The petition sponsors at What is Liberalism? have their own suite of posts on the matter, so there is ample information to believe Maye should be exonerated.
Second amendment enthusiasts are also on board, but that shouldn’t scare away liberals. Just imagine the situation reversed, with black cops busting down the door in a white suburban neighborhood. It would scarcely matter whether the police properly announced themselves, the white gun owner would almost surely never be convicted of a crime, and it is unthinkable that they would sit on death row. Laura Denyes poignantly summarizes this case from the perspectives of the fathers involved.
Whatever your angle, you can sign the petition, you can contact Haley Barbour directly, you can write Cory Maye himself through his lawyer, you can donate to Cory’s legal defense fund, you can spread the word and pass along links via email, you can blog about it, post a button on your blog, you can recommend this diary. But if you see the injustice you can act, and this is a case where acting together we just might make a real difference.
And maybe while we free Cory Maye (I’m thinking positively here), we can put a small dent in the notion that punishment must be meted out in proportion to the size of the hurt inflicted. I make no claim that officer Jones’ death was not a great tragedy. But today’s prevailing climate of fear, promoted by sensationalist local tv news staffs from coast to coast, exalts the idea that the size of the tragedy should be the determining factor in the size of the punishment. It is why those of us who insist on evaluating the context of the situation and the background of the perpetrator in determining the severity of a punishment are so often wrongly mocked as being soft on crime. This is the sort of case that can make some people think again, and that is a good thing.
