CORY MAYE GETS A NEW HEARING

A man who was sentenced to death for the 2001 shooting death of a Prentiss police officer is appealing for his life. Cory Maye, 25, was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to die by lethal injection on Jan. 23, 2004 for the death of Officer Ron Jones. A hearing has been scheduled for June 20, to determine whether Maye deserves a new trial.

Maye's case has generated controversy on a series of Web sites and blogs, because he claims he shot Jones in self defense. Maye had no prior criminal record when, according to his testimony, officers raided his home in search of drugs after he had fallen asleep in a chair while caring for his daughter on December 26, 2001. He said he didn't hear officers announce themselves when they burst into his home. Maye insists he was trying to protect his daughter from - what he thought was - a violent intruder when he grabbed his .380-caliber pistol and fired at officers in self-defense.

"I honestly believe there's been an injustice," said his new attorney, Bob Evans. "It's a tragedy, no doubt, that Officer Ron Jones lost his life, but a double tragedy is that Cory, who wasn't out seeking trouble, ends up on Mississippi's death row."

The Pearl River Basin Narcotics Task Force was raiding the duplex where Jamie Smith, 21, lived, after they received a tip that Smith had drugs. The warrant had Smith's name on it, not Maye's.

But prosecutors said that Maye's story is implausible. Assistant District Attorney Doug Miller said that police officers knocked on Smith's door, and he quickly surrendered to them after they identified themselves. Smith was charged with selling cocaine. Officers testified that they approached Maye's door because they saw a light inside his duplex, Miller said. Police testified that they received no answer after they knocked on the door and announced themselves. Jones, a K9 officer, helped the task force and broke down Maye's door. Maye fired three times, hitting Jones once, right below the bulletproof vest. The shot killed Jones before he ever drew his gun, according to testimony.

Police searched the duplex for drugs, finding nothing but the remnants of a marijuana cigarette. Smith was charged, but he skipped bail after his release. He was never found or prosecuted.

Radley Balko, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute in Washington and a biweekly columnist for FoxNews.com, has taken up Maye's cause. He wrote on his Web site, theagitator.com: "Maye's case is an outrage. Prentiss, Mississippi, clearly violated Maye's civil rights the moment its cops needlessly and recklessly stormed his home in the middle of the night. The state of Mississippi is about to add a perverse twist to that violation by executing Maye for daring to defend himself."

While others have built momentum behind Balko's angry protest, prosecutors say that bloggers have muddled the facts. "Most of the information I've seen on the Internet is wrong," Miller said.

The case is all the more relevant now, as lawmakers consider measures that would broaden the right for citizens to kill intruders. Currently it is legal for Mississippians to defend themselves from intruders who they believe will do them "some great personal injury." Two bills before the state Senate and the House would expand that right to include a citizen's place of employment, businesses and vehicles. The Senate bill has passed both chambers, but the House amended it. Both chambers must agree to all changes before it can move forward. The House measure is pending in the Senate.

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