Corey Maye's conviction is REVERSED!

First off, CONGRATULATIONS BOB EVANS!!!!!!!!!!!  Bob Evans is a friend, a respected legislator, and one hell of a lawyer.  Second, congrats, Covington & Burling, who lent lawyers to the case.  Finally, thanks to Radley Balko and Reason Magazine.  They covered this matter from the get-go.  They even produced a spot on Reason.tv about this matter, "Mississippi Drug War Blues: The Case of Cory Maye".  The Radley Balko article on Cory Maye is here, and it's a very good read.

Background after the jump, and analysis in a later post, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

I'm not going to try to do a better job than Reason.tv did with the background.  From the Reason.tv site:

At 11p.m on December 26, 2001 police in Prentiss, Mississippi raided the residence of Cory Maye, a 21-year-old father who was at home with his 18-month-old daughter Ta'Corriana.

The cops were looking for drugs and smashed through the back door. In the ensuing chaos, Maye hunkered down with his daughter in a bedroom and when the police broke down that door, he fired three bullets, one of which killed Officer Ron Jones. Maye testified in court that the police did not identify themselves until after they had entered his residence; indeed, he testified that they did not identify themselves until after he had fired his shots. Once they did, he said he put his weapon on the floor, slid it toward police, and surrendered.

The police, who refused to talk with reason.tv, tell a different story. They claim that they identified themselves multiple times before entering Maye's house and bedroom, and that there was no way Maye couldn't have known who they were. A jury rejected Maye's case that he was acting in self-defense and he was sentenced to death for the murder of Officer Ron Jones.

 And that's how this all got started.  There were several angles that made this case different from your average violent crime: the racially-charged atmosphere of the venue, the reliability of confidential informants, the proper use of no-knock warrants, and the involvement of the embattled Dr. Hayne.

I'm going to dig in to the opinion now and report back what I find.  I'm already amazed at one paragraph....