The long-awaited Statesman profile of Maurice Pierce finally ran on Sunday.
My feeling is that the Statesman glosses over a few things. Yes, Pierce may not have been guilty of the murders, but what was a 16-year-old doing carrying a pistol at the mall?
And why did Pierce react so violently to traffic stops? He was arrested in 2006 for not paying three minor traffic tickets issued in 2003, he punched someone in a traffic altercation in 2007 (and was fined $200 on a disorderly conduct charge), he got into an altercation with a cop in Plano after being pulled over for doing 70 in a 40 (this led to charges of aggravated assault on a public servant and evading arrest), and the final incident that led to his death started as a traffic stop for running a stop sign.
“Maurice stated that he hates cops and that he did not want to go to prison,” the report said.
With the possible exception of the Plano incident, which Pierce escalated, nothing on his rap sheet would have led to prison.
So what was his major malfunction?
Perhaps the fact that many people, following the lead of the media, had already convicted him of a quadruple murder?
Sadly, there have been a fair number of people – not just in Texas, but nationwide – who have been wrongfully convicted of murder, either in an actual court or the court of public opinion.
Pierce is the only example I can think of off the top of my head where, once the charges were dropped, the person convicted acted out to the point where they tried to kill a cop over something as minor as running a stop sign.