Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 24, 2006 4:42:11 GMT -5
Judge throws out death penalty in cop-killing case
By Jerry Mitchell
POPLARVILLE — Cory Maye, the 25-year-old Prentiss man sentenced to die by lethal injection in a 2001 cop killing, is off death row today.
After a two-day hearing in Pearl River County Circuit Court, Judge Michael Eubank ruled that Maye's trial attorney, Rhonda Cooper of Jackson, did not represent her client adequately during the penalty phase of Maye's 2003 trial.
He overturned the penalty phase, ordered a new sentencing trial and said he would rule on the other matters raised by Maye's new defense team later.
One of Maye's relatives clapped and another said, "Thank you, Jesus."
On Jan. 23, 2004, a Marion County jury sentenced Maye to die for fatally wounding Prentiss Police Officer Ron Jones during a drug raid.
Maye, who had no prior criminal record, testified he had fallen asleep in the chair when officers raided his duplex the day after Christmas in 2001 in search of drugs.
Law enforcement officers first raided the apartment of Jamie Smith, 21, who lived on the other side of the duplex. They found drugs and arrested him.
Officers testified at Maye's trial that they then saw a light turned on inside Maye's duplex, knocked on his door and announced themselves but got no answer. They said Maye was standing when he fired on Jones.
But Maye testified at his trial that he didn't hear police announce themselves, grabbed his .380-caliber pistol and was on the floor when he fired upward in self-defense. He had been watching his 18-month-old daughter while his wife worked a late shift.
Authorities found only remnants from a marijuana cigarette in Maye's duplex.
His case had elicited attention throughout the country.
"The record is shockingly thin on what Mr. Maye is convicted," defense lawyer Abram Pafford of Washington, D.C., said in arguments to Eubanks.
Cooper "committed error after error after error," defense lawyer Jessica Gabel of San Francisco told Eubanks.
"Her performance sent him to death row," Gabel said.
After the hearing, District Attorney Buddy McDonald said Eubank "puts a lot of thought into his decisions. We're waiting to see what the remainder of his decision will on the guilty phase."
www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060921/NEWS/60921044
By Jerry Mitchell
POPLARVILLE — Cory Maye, the 25-year-old Prentiss man sentenced to die by lethal injection in a 2001 cop killing, is off death row today.
After a two-day hearing in Pearl River County Circuit Court, Judge Michael Eubank ruled that Maye's trial attorney, Rhonda Cooper of Jackson, did not represent her client adequately during the penalty phase of Maye's 2003 trial.
He overturned the penalty phase, ordered a new sentencing trial and said he would rule on the other matters raised by Maye's new defense team later.
One of Maye's relatives clapped and another said, "Thank you, Jesus."
On Jan. 23, 2004, a Marion County jury sentenced Maye to die for fatally wounding Prentiss Police Officer Ron Jones during a drug raid.
Maye, who had no prior criminal record, testified he had fallen asleep in the chair when officers raided his duplex the day after Christmas in 2001 in search of drugs.
Law enforcement officers first raided the apartment of Jamie Smith, 21, who lived on the other side of the duplex. They found drugs and arrested him.
Officers testified at Maye's trial that they then saw a light turned on inside Maye's duplex, knocked on his door and announced themselves but got no answer. They said Maye was standing when he fired on Jones.
But Maye testified at his trial that he didn't hear police announce themselves, grabbed his .380-caliber pistol and was on the floor when he fired upward in self-defense. He had been watching his 18-month-old daughter while his wife worked a late shift.
Authorities found only remnants from a marijuana cigarette in Maye's duplex.
His case had elicited attention throughout the country.
"The record is shockingly thin on what Mr. Maye is convicted," defense lawyer Abram Pafford of Washington, D.C., said in arguments to Eubanks.
Cooper "committed error after error after error," defense lawyer Jessica Gabel of San Francisco told Eubanks.
"Her performance sent him to death row," Gabel said.
After the hearing, District Attorney Buddy McDonald said Eubank "puts a lot of thought into his decisions. We're waiting to see what the remainder of his decision will on the guilty phase."
www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060921/NEWS/60921044