Radley, Please!
If Ron Jones had been "an honest, decent police officer," then Ron Jones would still be alive.
Honest and decent people don’t storm the home of a peaceful man and his young daughter in the middle of the night. It is precisely because Ron Jones was dishonest and despicable, as a person and as a police officer, that Cory May has sat for five years on death row in Mississippi, a convicted murderer; because he justly, and with all moral authority, defended his life and that of his daughter’s. You know all these facts, Radley. You put them all together. It is because of you that Maye has a slim chance that a part of this injustice against him and his daughter is terminated.
And if Ron Jones were honest and decent, it would have been a reflection of the professionalism of law institutions he would willingly work for and carry out duties. Such an institution would never have tolerated any actual Ron Jones-types in its midst, and had a similar incident occurred, it would have prosecuted the "Ron Jones," exonerated Cory Maye, and left him to raise his daughter in peace; rather than turn wrong to "right," black to "white," dishonesty to "honesty," indecency to "decency," and injustice to "justice."
It’s all baked in the cake; business as usual in the "Land of the Free."
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How come this is the first I've heard of this? What happened to justice in this country?
"It is precisely because Ron Jones was dishonest and despicable…
I would say rather that the most charitable case that could be made for Jones was that he systematically made grave moral errors which resulted in his death. He absolutely bears primary responsibility for his own death and substantial responsibility for Maye's subsequent abuse.
Balko's hagiography won't do at all. One certainly can't reasonably hold simultaneously that the drug war is indecent but that those implementing it where the bullet meets the bone are behaving decently.
I stop short of saying that grave moral error necessarily equates with being dishonest and despicable. Someone can be acting in substantially good faith while making grave errors. While Jones' behavior was indecent, I wouldn't base a summary judgment of his character on it.
But Balko is wrong to offer even a speculative evaluation of the man's character which is independent of his indecent behavior. It certainly does reflect on his character.