Carey tells the heartbreaking story of 'two of the countless casualties
of the war on drugs'
LOS ANGELES, May 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Drew Carey's newest
Reason.tv video tells the tragic story of Cory Maye and Ron Jones. Maye was
in his home late at night with his one-year-old daughter. A stranger kicked
down his door and barged into his daughter's dark bedroom. Maye shot and
killed the intruder -- just as millions of other Americans would.
But it turned out the intruder was actually Police Officer Ron Jones,
raiding the home for drugs. Maye had no criminal record or past. The police
did not find any drugs in his home at the time, but a few days later
claimed to have found small amounts of marijuana. Police found marijuana,
crack cocaine residue and scales at Maye's next-door neighbor's home, but
never charged that person with a crime.
Instead of the cops admitting they had the wrong part of the duplex,
received bad information from an unreliable confidential informant, and
that Maye was protecting his family and acting in self-defense, they
charged him with capital murder. Maye was convicted and sentenced to death.
Thanks in part to the reporting of Reason magazine's Radley Balko, Maye's
sentence was later reduced to life in prison.
"Despite 100 years of heavy social and financial costs, and no
indication that victory is attainable, the U.S. government continues to
wage its war on drugs," says Drew Carey in the Reason.tv video. Carey calls
Maye and Jones "two of the countless casualties of the war on drugs."
"Corey Maye did what most Americans would do," states Nick Gillespie,
editor of Reason.tv. "He thought someone was breaking into his home and he
protected his family. The real villain here is the war on drugs. The war on
drugs sent an innocent man to jail for the rest of his life. Cory's two
children now have to grow up without their father. And a police officer is
dead. The war on drugs is failing on every front and it is time to end it."
"Cory Maye's story puts a heartbreaking human face on the drug war,"
says Reason magazine's Radley Balko, who has covered the case in-depth for
several years. "It also illustrates many overlooked problems with the
American criminal justice system, including the increasingly aggressive
tactics police use to fight the drug war, lingering racism, problems with
inadequate defense counsel, biased forensic experts, and the continuing
debate over the death penalty. Cory Maye shouldn't be in prison. His
continuing incarceration, along with the death of Officer Ron Jones, is the
result of a number of flawed policies that have claimed an incalculable
number of victims, and will continue to claim more unless America
reexamines its failed war on drugs."
Full Video Online
The Reason.tv Drew Carey video, Mississippi Drug War Blues: The Case of
Cory Maye, is online at http://reason.tv/video/show/403.html. An archive of
Drew Carey's Reason.tv videos are here http://reason.tv/featuredvids/.
About Reason.tv
Reason.tv is an online community showcasing the best libertarian ideas
and videos on the Internet. Reason.tv gives you the opportunity to create
videos, share videos and suggest topics for Drew Carey's upcoming
documentaries. For more information, please visit http://www.reason.tv.
About Reason Foundation
Reason Foundation is a nonprofit think tank dedicated to advancing free
minds and free markets. Reason Foundation produces respected public policy
research on a variety of issues and publishes the critically acclaimed
Reason magazine and its website http://www.reason.com. For more information,
please visit http://www.reason.org.
SOURCE Reason Foundation
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Related links:
http://www.reason.com
http://www.reason.org http://www.reason.tv
CONTACT:
Radley Balko, Senior Editor, Reason magazine,
+1-703-507-2631; or Chris Mitchell, Director of Communications,
Reason Foundation, +1-310-367-6109
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