In the twenty-first century, this is very disturbing.

For those who don't get the reference, here's a clue.

[Wednesday update]

A commenter asks who Cory Maye is. Here's the story at Wikipedia.

Who is Cory Maye and what is the charge?

I'm against no-knock raids, but I'm starting to see another picture of the Corey Maye case from what Radley Balko initially brought to the blog-sphere. The real problem is that the death was the Chief's son, and the politics of that issue is very thick, as illustrated in the firing of Maye's defense lawyer.

There was a warrant, if not a very specific one. What interest me most though is the testimony that the police originally tried to enter Maye's home from the front, and then moved around back, where they successfully entered. Question, did the police not yell "POLICE" during that entire time? I still think Corey deserved the benefit of doubt to avoid the death penalty. However, he might have been given adequate notice that he was being served a warrant.

My view is not set in stone. Indeed, I'm just acknowledging that it has changed a bit. I think much more information is needed.

All that said, the firing of the defense lawyer is unjust.

Cory Maye reacted the way many of us would in his situation. There is no way to account for his unjust sentence for an act of self defense that is clearly protected by Mississippi law. (The right to self-defense law has recently been extended to protect your rights in your vehicle as well.) It offends me that such an obvious case of self-defense got twisted by the courts into 1st degree murder. It seems to me that at most Maye should have been charged with manslaughter. I doubt he deserved even that much, but if he had he would have probably gotten about 4 to 5 years, and would be out this year. He deserves to be out this year, no matter how you look at it.

Myself and some like minded people have been working on a petition. Cory Maye’s story has been rare in that it has brought support from conservatives, libertarians and those on the left. We tried to word the petition in a way that all sides would be willing to sign it. We contacted dozens of webloggers from all political stripes for input. We have it up here:
http://www.whatisliberalism.com/index.php?pageId=87667

At some point this spring, we intend to print this out and mail it to the Governor of Mississippi and to all the major newspapers. Please consider signing the petition as we are interested in generating enough signatures that the petition gains the attention of the media. Thanks for your support!

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culospwn folb ngfpazi migux ckrev etiwsdxcp njbyoq