Maye v. State

49 So. 3d 1124, 2010 Miss. LEXIS 622, 2010 WL 4882249
Mississippi Supreme Court·Decided December 2, 2010·No. 2007-CT-02147-SCT·Published·Cited by 27 cases

Opinions

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI

WALLER, Chief Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. The Court of Appeals reversed Cory J. Maye’s conviction for capital murder and remanded for a new trial, finding that the trial court had violated Maye’s constitutional right to be tried in the county where the offense occurred. We granted both the State’s and Maye’s petitions for certiorari. Finding that the circuit court improperly denied Maye’s requested defense-of-others jury instruction, we vacate the Court of Appeals’ decision, reverse the circuit court’s judgment, and remand this case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. We do not address the vicinage issue, but on remand, Maye is entitled to reassert his right to be tried in Jefferson Davis County.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. In December 2001, Cory Maye fatally shot Officer Ron Jones of the Prentiss Police Department while Jones was executing a search warrant on Maye’s apartment. The following facts surrounding the execution of the search warrant and Maye’s shooting of Officer Jones are taken [1126] from the Court of Appeals’ opinion. See Maye v. State, 49 So.3d 1140 (Miss.Ct.App.2009).

On the evening of December 26, 2001, Officer Ron Jones of the Prentiss Police Department secured two search warrants for a duplex located on Mary Street in Prentiss, Mississippi. Officer Ron Jones presented two affidavits and search warrants to Municipal Judge Donald Kruger. Officer Ron Jones signed the affidavits in the presence of Judge Kruger. The affidavits indicated that Officer Ron Jones had received information from a confidential informant who had within the prior twenty-four hours seen a large amount of marijuana stored in the duplex. Officer Ron Jones also attested that he had information from various sources that drugs were being sold out of the duplex. Officer Ron Jones attested that he had conducted surveillance of the duplex and had seen large amounts of traffic there at unusual hours. Judge Kruger discussed the search warrant with Officer Ron Jones, and later testified, ‘Tes, I talked with him about it. He said that he was reliable, a person, that the informant was, and that one or two arrests had been made because of this reliable, this so-called reliable informant.” Based on Officer Ron Jones’s affidavit, Judge Kruger issued two search warrants for the Mary Street duplex, one for the left side of the duplex identifying Jamie Smith and/or persons unknown as the occupants and one for the right side of the duplex, which listed persons unknown as the occupants.
After securing the search warrants, Officer Ron Jones selected a team from the Prentiss Police Department, the Bassfield Police Department, the Jefferson Davis County Sheriffs Department, and the Pearl River Basin Narcotics Task Force to assist him in executing the search warrants. The officers were separated into two teams: one team to search the left side of the duplex and the other team to search the right side of the duplex. Agent Darrell Graves led Officers Mike Brown, Earl Bullock, Allen Allday, and Terrence Cooley in executing the search warrant on Smith’s apartment, which was the left side of the duplex. Officer Ron Jones led Officers Stephen Jones, Darrell Cooley, and Phillip Allday in executing the search warrant on Maye’s apartment, which was the right side of the duplex.
The officers arrived at the Mary Street duplex in marked police cars. The officers parked the cars directly in front of the duplex. Officer Ron Jones’s team was the first to arrive at Maye’s side of the duplex. Officers Ron Jones, Stephen Jones, and Darrell Cooley took the front door with Officer Phillip Allday guarding the back door.
Maye testified that he was asleep on the “chair right beside the front door.” The officers testified that they went to the front door and loudly announced, “police, search warrant,” three times. Officer Darrell Cooley testified that he arrived at the door first. The front porch light was on. Officer Darrell Cooley testified that he loudly announced, “police,” then someone behind him announced, “search warrant.” He then kicked at the door. Officer Darrell Cooley testified that he yelled “police” a second time, then someone behind him announced “search warrant” loudly. Again, Officer Darrell Cooley kicked at the door.
Officer Stephen Jones reported that at this point he could see a light in the house through the cracked blinds. He testified that “[t]he blinds opened, it appeared that somebody opened the blinds and looked out.” When the blinds were [1127] opened, he noticed the light on inside of Maye’s apartment. Officer Darrell Cooley testified that this was the first time that he noticed a light on inside the apartment. Officer Darrell Cooley testified that he looked “back in toward the window on the door, and [he] could see a light back to the left side of the door.”
After noticing the light, Officer Darrell Cooley yelled, “police,” a third time with someone behind him announcing “search warrant.” When the door would not open, the officers decided to go to the back of the duplex to gain entry.
Officers Phillip Allday and Terrence Cooley were at the back of the duplex. Officer Terrence Cooley testified that he could “clearly hear” his fellow officers at the front of the house announce police, search warrant three times while he was at the back steps.
Officer Graves was in charge of executing the search warrant on Smith’s apartment (left side). Officer Graves confirmed that the officers on Maye’s side of the duplex had announced, “police, search warrant,” as Officer Graves approached Smith’s apartment. The occupants of Smith’s apartment (left side) responded to the announcements and opened their door to allow the officers to execute the search warrant.
Unable to gain entry through Maye’s front door, Officers Ron Jones and Stephen Jones went to the back door of Maye’s apartment, leaving Officer Terrence Cooley to guard the front door. Officer Stephen Jones testified that upon reaching the back door, Officer Ron Jones checked to see if the back door would open, and then announced, “search warrant, police, search - warrant.” When the door would not open, Officers Ron Jones and Stephen Jones proceeded to the front of the house. Officers at the back of the duplex kicked the back door open. A couple of minutes passed between the officers’ first announcement at the front door and the back door being kicked in. After the back door was opened, Officer Ron Jones was called to the back of the house. He proceeded to enter the house, yelling “police.” He was met by shots fired from, Maye’s gun. Officer Ron Jones immediately left Maye’s apartment stating that he had been shot. He was taken by Officer Stephen Jones to the hospital, where Officer Ron Jones died shortly after arrival. Officer Cooley apprehended Maye. A search of Maye’s apartment conducted later by officers yielded small amounts of marijuana.

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Maye v. State, 49 So. 3d 1124, 2010 Miss. LEXIS 622, 2010 WL 4882249 (Mich. 2010).

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