Pubdate: Tue, 26 Sep 2006
Source: Clarion-Ledger, The (MS)
Copyright: 2006 The Clarion-Ledger
Contact:  http://www.clarionledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/805
Author: Jerry Mitchell

LAWYER DEFENDS WORK IN OVERTURNED SENTENCE

Jackson lawyer Rhonda Cooper said Monday she did her  job in 
defending Cory Maye of Prentiss, who was  convicted of killing a 
police officer in a 2001 drug  raid.

"I was trying to save somebody's life," she said. "It  was do or die."

On Thursday, Circuit Judge Michael Eubanks ruled that  Maye should be 
removed from death row, concluding that  Cooper did not represent her 
client adequately during  the penalty phase of Maye's trial.

Eubanks overturned the sentence and ordered a new  sentencing hearing 
for Maye, who fatally wounded  Prentiss police officer Ron Jones. The 
judge said he  would rule later on the other matters raised by Maye's 
new defense team.

"Judge Eubanks can't say I'm the bad guy when he's the  big guy," Cooper said.

Eubanks found that Cooper had adequately represented  Maye during the 
guilt phase of the trial. "I'm pleased  the judge found that I didn't 
do anything wrong in the  trial," she said.

On Jan. 23, 2004, jurors returned with their guilty  verdict at 11:49 
a.m. - a little more than an hour  after they started deliberations.

Cooper said the verdict stunned her. "It took my breath  away," she 
said. "Nobody expected that."

The proper verdict, she said, would have been  manslaughter.

She said she asked for more time to prepare for the  penalty phase, 
but the judge turned her down, saying  jurors from the sequestered 
panel were tired and wanted  to go home.

"We had the conviction," she said. "Why did we have to  move into the 
penalty phase that afternoon?"

She should have been given more time, perhaps a week,  she said. "We 
didn't have to do it that Friday. Where  is he going such that you 
have to rush it?"

The penalty phase began at 2:20 p.m., and jurors began  deliberating 
at 4:35 p.m. By 6 p.m., they agreed  unanimously on a verdict - Maye 
deserved to die by  lethal injection.

The new defense team questioned why Cooper had the  trial moved from 
Jefferson Davis County, where the  homicide took place, but Cooper 
said she felt she had  no choice since Jones' father was police chief 
in  Prentiss.

The team also questioned why Cooper failed to have Maye  and others 
testify. The only defense witnesses were his  mother and grandmother.

"When the judge tells me to go forward, who else do I  have but the 
mother and grandmother?" Cooper asked.  "Why would I have Cory to 
testify in the penalty phase  when I had him testify in the trial, 
and apparently the  jury did not believe him?"

Maye, 25, who had no previous criminal record,  testified he had 
fallen asleep in the chair when  officers raided his duplex the day 
after Christmas 2001  in search of drugs.

Law enforcement officers first raided the apartment of  Jamie Smith, 
21, who lived on the other side of the  duplex. They found drugs and 
arrested him. He since has  skipped out on bond and has not been found.

Officers testified at Maye's trial that they saw a  light turned on 
inside Maye's duplex, knocked on his  door and announced themselves 
but got no answer. They  said Maye was standing when he fired on Jones.

But Maye testified at his trial that he didn't hear  police announce 
themselves, he grabbed his .380-caliber  pistol and was on the floor 
when he fired upward in  self-defense. He had been watching his 
18-month-old  daughter.

Authorities found only remnants from a marijuana  cigarette in Maye's duplex.

As for the lack of African Americans on the jury - two  of the 12 
jurors were black - Cooper said many  potential black jurors opposed 
the death penalty,  leading to their dismissals.

Maye's death sentence should have been overturned in  2004, she said. 
"He does not deserve to die under those  circumstances, so if the 
sentence is set aside, that's  what we wanted from the beginning. 
What's done ... is  what should have been done before."

In the end, "we got what we wanted, which is no death  sentence," she 
said, "so if everybody has to celebrate  at my expense to get Cory 
off death row, so be it."

Staff writer Andrew Nelson contributed to this report.
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