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December 19, 2005BELTWAY BLOGROLL
A Tale Of Two Killers
Cory Maye of Mississippi and Stanley "Tookie" Williams of California had two very different pasts before they landed on death row -- Williams in 1981 and Maye in 2004.
Maye had no criminal record before killing a policeman who had burst into his home without a warrant. Williams, on the other hand, was a founder of the infamous Crips street gang, convicted of killing four people in two crimes.
But now the two have one more thing besides their criminal sentences in common: Each has become a focal point of renewed debate about capital punishment -- a debate being driven in large part by bloggers.
Blogging about the death penalty, and particularly against it, is not a new idea. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty has been at it for 18 months, and Amnesty International launched Death Penalty Blog in July. Some state affiliates of NCADP, including those in Alabama, Missouri and Tennessee, also publish blogs.
After the national branch in October discussed Internet activism at its annual conference, NCADP blogger David Elliot posted three entries on blogging about the death penalty. "To me, it's about encouraging each other, building community, exchanging ideas, sharing what works and what doesn't," he wrote. "Taking new messages and trying them out for a spin. Doing new things."
Blogs with broader content also cover the death penalty periodically, especially when it is in the mainstream media mix. But until last month, as the nation neared its 1,000th execution since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, the topic had not reached critical mass in the blogosphere.
Then came Tookie Williams and Cory Maye.
Williams rose to celebrity status first. "While in jail, he became an anti-gang activist, wrote children's books and was nominated by a member of the Swiss Parliament for the Nobel Prize," TalkLeft noted last month in encouraging its readers to sign a petition urging clemency for Williams.
His story spurred numerous sympathetic appeals from bloggers, as well as outrage at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., for refusing clemency.
But the facts of Williams' life before prison, plus his repeated denials of committing the murders for which he was convicted, only served to heighten the longstanding divide over the death penalty. Abolitionists and the law-and-order crowd highlighted each other's excesses.
Firmly in the law-and-order group, Michelle Malkin posted several entries under "The Tookie Files." Both she and Patterico of Patterico's Pontifications emphasized the fate of Williams' victims: Albert Owens, Tsai-Shai Yang, Yen-I Yang and Ye-Chen Lin.
"Tonight should be about honoring their memory and bringing justice for their deaths," Patterico wrote before Williams was executed Tuesday.
Even bloggers who oppose the death penalty, including both conservative Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters and liberal Duncan Black of Eschaton, had qualms about rallying around Williams.
Quite the opposite is true with Maye. His case is the subject of a blog swarm encompassing both the left and the right.
While Black said he "can't quite see how Stanley Williams is really the poster child for the cause" against capital punishment, he endorsed the conservative-led fight for Maye. "Every now and then," he said, "the wingnutosphere finds a cause which actually has merit. ... The case of Cory Maye is indeed a travesty."
Radley Balko of The Agitator first told Maye's story to the blogosphere Dec. 7, as the debate over Williams' death sentence was reaching its climax. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit gave the story a larger audience the next day, and Balko later created a Cory Maye page.
Balko even provided a roundup of views from people who believe the Maye verdict is just -- including one whom Balko said "casts some rather nasty aspersions on me."
"Radley's done a good deal of follow-up on this case," Kieran Healy wrote at Out of the Crooked Timber, "and so far nothing he's turned up suggests that Maye is anything other than the victim of an appalling travesty of justice."
On the left, Angelica of Battlepanda is leading the call to arms, as well as taking the roll of the libertarian, Republican and Democratic blogs engaged on Maye's behalf. "When the Instapundit and I both agree that something is wack," she said, "you can be sure that it is indeed very, very wack."
The mainstream media still have ignored Maye's plight -- perhaps a case of death-penalty burnout from covering Williams. Yet the case has captured the interest of bloggers as far away as South Africa, where Laurence Caromba of Commentary noted, "If Maye manages to get off death row, Balko will share a great deal of the responsibility."
Mark Kleiman concluded much the same at The Huffington Post, albeit with a more pessimistic spin: "This case is an interesting test of the power of the blogosphere. ... Unless bloggers can somehow attract the attention of mainstream media outlets, or of the politicians whose statements the mainstream media will treat as news ... then the story is going to die, and so, probably, is Cory Maye."
The blog swarm has the potential to reach beyond Maye himself, though. It might shape public opinion about the death penalty in general, which as James Joyner noted at Outside the Beltway, already has shown signs of changing.
"Capital punishment is rather obviously allowed by the Constitution," he said. "It still has overwhelming public support, as seen in poll after poll and election after election. Those same polls, though, show a growing concern about the way the system works. It may well be that, 20 years or so from now, a majority will oppose state-sanctioned executions."
However American views of the death penalty evolve, blogs are sure to be a factor in that intellectual shift. And bloggers' musings over the execution of Tookie Williams and the death sentence of Cory Maye could prove to be the catalyst for that shift.
Posted by | 10:02 AM
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Comments
Maye had no criminal record before killing a policeman who had burst into his home without a warrant.Are you taking Radley Balko's word for this? It's my understanding that there were two warrants. The first was for the other apartment and named the occupant. The second warrant was for Corey's apartment but did not name him, possibly because the confidantial informant only mentioned Corey's apartment 24 hours earlier. And then Radley suggests racial motives for the conviction when he said Corey was convicted by a white jury. He is later corrected and admits that there were two blacks on the jury. Radley's reporting has been riddled with inaccuracies and innuendo. This is unfortunate because I believe the Corey needs a public airing of his case. If Corey was a victim of poor legal representation I believe the same can be said for his advocates at the aptly named The Agitator.
tom scott | 12.19.05 12:40 PM
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It doesn't matter if they had a warrant or not. You kick in someone's door in the middle of the night, you're liable to get shot, even if you have a giant "POLICE" sign floating over your head. It's dark at night, and also burglars and home invaders have been known to pose as officers.
Like any other shooting, the shooter has to show that he thought that he or someone else present would be killed, maimed, etc., and that a reasonable person would have come to the same conclusion. Which, in this case, shouldn't have been hard to do. (and since this was in the home, 'retreating' didn't come into play)
Tim in PA | 12.19.05 01:07 PM
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You might be interested in my slightly different take on Tookie Williams' execution. It's on my blog and the URL for the post in question is: Here
Thanks!
Mark Daniels
Mark Daniels | 12.19.05 01:12 PM
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The (dubious) legality of no-knock warrants aside . . .
Even if the cops had one for Maye's apartment, it doesn't affect his self-defense claim. Did he act reasonably, out of a legitimate fear for his life or that of his kid? If the answer is yes, then he should be acquitted. It doesn't matter of the cops had a warrant or not - the question is whether someone on the receiving end of getting their door kicked down at 2 A.M. could reasonably be in fear of their life.
I think the answer is yes.
R C Dean | 12.19.05 01:38 PM
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Without being too cynical about it a few facts.
1) Cory Maye is black.
2) The dead policeman was white.
3) The dead policeman was the son of the local police chief.
4) This happened in the Deep South.
Now I realise that I'm a foreigner, know no more about the case than what I've read at places like Radley's but I can't quite get surprised at this. Angry, outraged, yes, surprised no.
Maybe that is actually too cynical.
Tim Worstall | 12.19.05 01:58 PM
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Tim,
Yes, you are a a foreigner, and yes, you've jumped to the wrong conclusions.
Cops are VERY VERY clannish. They will go after ANYONE, black or white, that kills one of theirs, no matter what the circumstance.
Stop the stereotyping. It looks like foolish.
seguin | 12.19.05 02:14 PM
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This constant harping about Balco really should stop. He initially had a few errors about the case, which he has been quick to correct as soon as he had information that he could fairly consider reliable. If not for his initial coverage, that reliable information would not have appeared at all; as he as recounted, nobody in officialdom returned his calls until the story - his story - started to gain traction.
All this would normally be considered "a good thing". I can't think of a major newspaper which couldn't take some valuable guidance from this guy. Despite that, he endures abuse from those who see every story as some sort of horse race. Aha, his horse stumbled a little coming out of the gate - that's it, race over, nothing to see here, move along ... But of course all that really counts in a race is the finish line. And all that counts in a news story is accuracy, updated and corrected as required.
Balko also seems to have the sense to realize that the luxury of waiting around until all questions are resolved is not really an option here. He can have the story dead straight, but it will do no good if Maye has been executed by then. "Accurate but too late to be useful" would not be much of a slogan.
Balko's efforts are activitism at its finest. Things need to be done, and the little guy can do them if the big guys won't. Save the abuse and vituperation for someone who deserves it.
Re the warrant - it seems that the police did have a warrant, but they didn't have a warrant for Maye. In which case, if they didn't even know who he was, why did they postulate that he was dangerous, or a suspected dealer? Those are the only possible justifications for a surprise breakdown raid.
tom swift | 12.19.05 02:17 PM
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For those of you that seem to take issue with my pointing out the inaccuracies of Radley's reporting on the warrant I'd like to point out what I said.
This is unfortunate because I believe the Corey needs a public airing of his case.I am not arguing the legality, worthiness, or merits of the warrant. I'm saying that there was no need to rush to publish and that there was time to ask for the trial transcripts, copies of warrants, etc. Go read Radley's Corey Maye thread again. It makes Wikipedia look absolutely factual.
Tim, to rephrase your 60'ish comment.
Tom Scott has applied to Stanford
Tom Scott is Black
The admissions office is white
The black population of the Bay area is 15%
The percentage of black students at Stanford
is 10%
Tom Scott, a black applicant is denied
Therefore Stanford is racist.
tom scott | 12.19.05 02:30 PM
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Go read Radley's Corey Maye thread again. It makes Wikipedia look absolutely factual.
This is a point in Balko's favor, not against. The appearance of correctness (which should better be called the consistency of appearance) is as often an indication of a failure to re-examine on the basis of new information as it is an indication of actual correctness. That Balko is unafraid to correct his own work in public is a sign that he is more committed to factuality than to appearance.
As to the claim that he should have waited until his facts were straight to publish - at what point do you decide your facts are straight? You will never know absolutely everything about anything, and at some point, you must publish. Furthermore, who are you, having not done the legwork on this article yourself, to decide that Balko was wrong in publishing when he did? It is to his credit, and solely his credit, that this story is even discussed.
(If I falsely impune you, and you have indeed done the legwork on this issue, I apoligize.)
Jason | 12.19.05 11:14 PM
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tom swift: it seems that the police did have a warrant, but they didn't have a warrant for Maye. In which case, if they didn't even know who he was, why did they postulate that he was dangerous, or a suspected dealer? Those are the only possible justifications for a surprise breakdown raid.
Maye had moved in only a few weeks before; perhaps Jones or his ghostly informant thought the unit was unoccupied and Smith (the owner?) was using it to store his alleged bales of dope. If that were the case, smashing into Smith's "warehouse" is no less reasonable than smashing into Smith's residence -- if we can pretend for a moment that the drugwar itself is reasonable and such terroristic tactics appropriate.
Anton Sherwood | 12.20.05 08:01 PM
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"If that were the case, smashing into Smith's 'warehouse' is no less reasonable than smashing into Smith's residence"
Rubbish. Evidence? Witnesses? Probable cause? These concepts mean nothing? A professional police department, with cars and guns and radios and money to pay off informants, can't manage these things in "a few weeks"? And they can't figure out that someone besides their suspect is living in that house? Hogwash.
And those fine weasel words - "if that were the case" - well, it weren't. This is not a trivial procedural error - one man is dead, and the State is working to make it two, and all because that weren't the case.
I gather that Mr Maye's situation is too dire for these silly hypotheticals.
tom swift | 12.22.05 03:47 PM
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