Save Cory Maye
The evening of 25 December 2001 Cory Maye was asleep at home with his 18-month-old daughter when his door was smashed in, waking him. He ran, got his gun and shot one of the intruders dead. It turns out that the intruders were police serving a no-knock warrant on his next-door neighbour. Despite the fact that he stopped shooting the instant the police identified themselves; despite the fact that Mississippi allows the killing of another in self-defense; despite the fact that Mississippi does not consider it capital murder to kill a police officer when one does not know he is a police officer—despite all these things, Cory Maye was sentenced to death. His death sentence was overturned a year ago, but he still sits on death row, a victim and not a killer. And pretty much no-one cares.
This is the inevitable result of laws that favour the police (why
should it be capital murder to kill a cop, but not a grandmother?); of
laws that violate our centuries-old liberties (why are no-knock raids
permitted?); of policies which encourage citizens to believe
themselves under attack (why use a SWAT team to smash a door when a
simple knock would do as well?); of laws which penalise
victimless crimes
(why is it legal to drink alcohol but not
smoke dope?).
Cory Maye defended his daughter from what he thought were criminals, and yet he rots in prison, treated like one.
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