Jackson Free Press

Read the Supreme Court's decision.

Cory Maye, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of a Prentiss police officer, will receive a new trial, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled yesterday.

In 2004, a Marion County Court judge sentenced Maye to death for the shooting of police officer Ron Jones during a drug raid. May testified that he fired the shots in self defense after police kicked down his door in the middle of the night, fearing for himself and his 14-month-old daughter. In 2006, Mississippi Circuit Judge Michael Eubanks overturned his death sentence and re-sentenced Maye to life without parole.

In 2009, the Mississippi Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Maye stating that a judge denied Maye his constitutional right to be tried in the county where the crime occurred. Yesterday's Supreme Court decision, however, does not address the venue issue, stating that Maye is entitled to a new trial because the trial judge refused to allow the jury to hear Maye's self-defense claim.

"We vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeals," Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. wrote in the decision. "We also reverse Maye's judgment of conviction, because the trial court committed reversible error by refusing Maye's requested defense-of-others jury instruction. Therefore, we remand this case to the trial court."

For more background on the case, read A New Trial for Cory Maye.

Previous Comments

ID

161176

Comment

Is it just me, or does the Mississippi Supreme Court seem to be doing the right thing more often?

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2010-12-03T11:24:22-06:00