Cop Killer to be set free

[featherduster]

Ron was a great personal friend of mine. His death was a shock to the community. A complete failure of the system led to his death and now will turn free the man responsible. Upon my return to Prentiss and Jeff Davis County, I moved into my grandmothers old house. What used to be a quiet country road just out of Prentiss had turned into a alleyway of crime. My home was broken into twice within three months. Newly elected sheriff Henry McCullum came on both occasions along with investigating deputies. No evidence was recovered and no arrest were made and Ron came to see me. He was an officer for the city with no authority to investigate in the county. Being lifelong friends he offered to help by my retaining him as a private investigator. The next afternoon he called to inform me that he had recovered my stolen items and had made two arrests of the perpetrators. After going to the PO to identify and collect my items, Ron took me to the sheriffs office to file my complaint. He said at the least he thought they could be charged with receiving stolen property but he felt a confession would be imminent if the interrogations were handled properly. Upon arrival at the sheriffs office, Sheriff Henry McCullum informed us that the accused had both been released after he gave them a "stern talking to". I was left with no options to pursue justice even after Ron facilitated it. The perpetrators Ron arrested with my items, Corey Maye and Corey Longino. So with any amount of justice, Corey Maye should have already been in prison instead of on the streets of Prentiss dealing drugs. I have on numerous occasions reminded sheriff McCullum of this fact and that the death of a fine officer and great friend rest squarely on his shoulders and the failure if his department to do its job>

[lipsplitter39654]

well i havent heard this before about maye. you should post this on facebook if you are on there. They make him sound like a saint all about how he had never ever been in any kind of trouble. i am glad you posted this on here.

[medic11]

Mr Harrell it is no secret of the corruption in the Sheriff's department in Jeff Davis County,
I believe that is 90% of the problem there. The county would be different if Mr. Ronald had been elected years ago, so maybe some changes can be made in future elections. We hunted a place on the bypass for years and on numerous occasions told the S.O. about drugs being dealt out of a house by our gate there, the house had no windows and a huge hole in the roof but there were 30-40 cars in and out of it daily. The Sheriff told us they were good people and must be trying to fix the house up (yeah thats why they had pitbulls and pistold right ?). Well one call to the Narcotics Task Force and 3 days later 20 were arrested in a raid.

[Po Monkey Lounger]

Not taking sides here, because this is the first time that I am reading about any of this, and do not feel that I have sufficient facts to comment. My questions and concerns are as follows --- to those who have knowledge about law enforcement and the conduct of such raids.

Although the law enforcement officers conducting the raid "announce" who they are before forcefully entering an occupied dwelling, is there any protocol for providing proof of who they are other than the announcement?

Here is why I ask this question. It would seem to me that a criminal or group of criminals could "announce" fraudulenty that they are the police, for the purpose of gaining entry into an occupied dwelling, and then proceed to perpetrate the intended crime. As a law abiding citizen and resident of MS who has the legal right to use deadly force to protect his home from anyone who forcefully enters the home, exactly how am I, in that situation, supposed to determine whether the person(s) doing the announcing and intruding are really the police? I would not be expecting a police raid, as I have done nothing wrong. So, I would be highly suspicious of any such claim by anyone banging on my door in the middle of the night and/or attempting to forcefully enter. My inclination would be to greet any such intruder, announcement or not, with hot lead from my 20 gauge shotgun loaded with buckshot that I keep handy in a convenient area of my home. What if the raid was made on my home by mistake --- an error made by a crooked or stupid "informant"? The police could have their warrant and everything, at least from their perspective, would be legal, even if mistaken. Do I, as a citizen, with the legal, statutory right to protect my home from intruders, have a duty to first check the credentials of the would-be intruder into my home? This would be an especially tough call for me to make IF the law enforcement officer(s) were in plain clothes, with nothing more than a badge and piece of paper they claimed to be a warrant. This would tilt me toward suspicion. If they were dressed in black or other such military/para-military style garb, then even more so. However, if they were fully uniformed, with badges and a warrant, and made the announcement in a professional manner, allowing a reasonable time to respond ( allowing time for me to wake up, process what is happening in the middle of the night, collect my wits, and make a sound judgement call of trust), then I would be much more likely to "trust them" and cooperate. But, if I was the least bit suspicious, I might come to or toward the door, armed with my shotgun, in order to make the proper determination of proper identity. Would the police react to that action as something threatening? Would they respond with aggression at the sight of the occupant of the home coming to the door armed with a shotgun or pistol? If law enforcement were to bust into my home in the middle of the night, without announcement, I am certain that I would greet such with deadly force, not realizing that the intruders were law enforcement officers. And this concerns me as the discussion in this thread seems to indicate that law enforcement units sometimes do get warrants with no announcement requirements.

Anyway you slice it, an armed police raid in the middle of the night of an occupied dwelling, no matter how noble the alleged purpose, would be a very dangerous proposition for the law enforcement officers and would put even a law abiding citizen home owner/occupant into a very difficult and tense situation, where the slightest misunderstanding of intentions could result in tragedy. Such a raid, IMO, should only be used as a last resort, if at all. And if used, there should be "no doubt" in the veracity of the information provided by the "informant", as the law enforcement agency involved has no room for error and should err on the side of caution. And if the bust does not involve a significant amount of drugs, is such a raid really worth the risk to the officers, and to the home occupants? Even if there is someone dealing drugs in the home, the penalty for such, if caught, is prison time and fines, but not death. And the home could also have "innocent" occupants such as children.

I am a big proponent of my second amendment gun rights, as well as the "castle doctrine" law in MS. The only potential situation that gives me pause about it is this exact scenario ----- a night raid by police, by mistake, upon my home. I would really hate to be put into that position. And if the law enforcement agency making the raid was not using the utmost professionalism and caution, then I can see how tragedy could result ---even without any intent for such a result.

Like I said, I am not saying this in defense of the particular defendant in question. There seems to be some strong facts mitigating against any determination that he was truly acting in self-defense, within his legal rights under the castle doctrine. But, this case raises some legitimate questions and concerns about such raids by law enforcement.

[driveby]

Po Monkey, this scenario went down in Texas not long ago. A Marine who had served in Afghanistan was shot something like 60 times by police who raided his home unannounced in the middle of the night. It appears the wrong address was provided on the warrant. To make matters worse, there had been some home invasions in that area by people posing as police. The veteran was shot while defending his wife and child with an AR15. So yes, this situation is plausable.
Like Po Monkey, I'm in know way defending this other guy because I know absolutely nothing about the situation. I'm just saying that it can happen.......it already has.

[lipsplitter39654]

we are not talking about a marine that served in afghanistan, we are talking about a suspected drug dealer in this case. now he had only a minute amount at the time that the house was searched but look at featherdusters comment so that you will see what type guy this was. The difference I guess from my perspective is that I knew Ron and know that he didnt just pick this guy out of the whole town. It is very very likely that Ron did his homework like he did on other cases but either the guy really wasnt dealing drugs, it wasnt there at the time or it got flushed down the toilet in the amount of time in between them arriving and making entry, but that is worth nothing at this point as it is speculation.

I believe whole heartedly in the 2nd amendment myself and believe you should be able to defend your home with whatever type arsenal you want, I do. The time line of events doesnt make sense though on this case. Again this is a case where I know the people involved, conducted raids with most of them and know that they always screamed police. After this incident we did change some things, one is that when we pulled up to a house and got in position we would turn lots of blue lights on and yell over the pa that we were the police.

Also they werent at the wrong home, they had a warrant for this home and the one next door. Police officers MUST get a no knock clause in a search warrant to run up and kick the door down and say nothing. This happens every day. On this particular case they did not have the no knock clause but knocked on the door, someone peeps out of the blind, no one comes to the door, they announce and then made entry. This was an exigent circumstance in that evidence could possibly have been destroyed and or officer safety issues. Am I saying that everything was done perfect? No but for this guy to walk free with OUR state representative taking the case it is hard to swallow.

There are people killed in high speed pursuits all the time but that doesnt mean the police should stop chasing people? Do we allow drug dealers and users to do it in our towns, oh yeah as long as its not on my street. If we dont allow the police to make forced entries into a house where they feel that evidence is being destroyed then no one would ever open their door, just flip em the bird out the blinds cause they cant come in the house.....

This is a tragedy any way you look at it and this guy will be a free man some time this week. Not trying to stir up a hornets nest but this is a bad situation.

[Faithful Retrievers]

The best I remember Jeff Davis back then fighting drug dealers would be like fighting a house fire with a water hose. It was hub for all kinds. Its very sad to see this, but I am not surprised at who defended him.

[digger]

I agree that it's a bad deal all the way around and I also see where Po Monkey is coming from.Now a ? what's the time between knock and anounce and hitting the door I'v heard they (LEO) are supposed to give like 15 second's but don't know?

[lipsplitter39654]

ive never heard a set time. ive been to all types of drug enforcement schools including DEA basic narcotics investigations and DEA clandestine drug lab investigation and all other types but have never heard an exact time. it all goes back to if LE cant forcefully enter a structure then no one would ever open a door.