Curtis Flowers

On the morning of July 16, 1996, a retired employee of Tardy Furniture entered the store and found three bodies: owner Bertha Tardy, and employees, Robert Golden and Carmen Rigby were deceased. A third employee, Derrick Stewart, who was 16 at the time, passed away later at the hospital. All had been fatally shot. Curtis Flowers was suspected after police learned that he had been fired from the store 13 days prior to the murders.{{cite podcast |last=Baran|first=Madeleine|author-link1=Madeleine Baran |title=July 16, 1996|website=In the Dark|publisher=American Public Media|date=May 1, 2018 |url=https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/05/01/in-the-dark-s2e1 |access-date=March 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219212107/https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/05/01/in-the-dark-s2e1|archive-date=February 19, 2020|url-status=live}} He also owed Bertha Tardy $30 for a cash advance on his paycheck.

Certain eyewitnesses said they saw Flowers near the front of the store on the morning of the shootings. No gun was found, but bullets from the scene were determined to be the same caliber as a gun that had been stolen from Flowers's uncle's car the same day as the murders. The Mississippi Crime Lab found that bullets fired previously from the uncle's gun matched the ballistics evidence of bullets found at the murder scene.{{cite web |last1=Jiaxin |first1=Zhu |last2=Liangcheng |first2=Yi |last3=Wenqian |first3=Ma |last4=Ziyue |first4=Zhu |last5=Esquius |first5=Guillem |title=The Reliability of Forensic Evidence: The Case of Curtis Flowers |url=https://courses2.cit.cornell.edu/sociallaw/FlowersCase/forensicevidence.html |website=Social Science and Law |publisher=Cornell University |access-date=March 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616150914/https://courses2.cit.cornell.edu/sociallaw/FlowersCase/forensicevidence.html |archive-date=June 16, 2019|url-status=live}} Flowers was charged with murder in the shooting deaths of the four victims.{{cite news |last1=Shamlian |first1=Janet |title=Mississippi man granted bond after being tried for same killings six times |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/curtis-flowers-mississippi-man-granted-bond-after-being-tried-for-same-killings-six-times-2019-12-16/ |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=CBS News |date=December 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107045840/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/curtis-flowers-mississippi-man-granted-bond-after-being-tried-for-same-killings-six-times-2019-12-16/ |archive-date=January 7, 2020|url-status=live}}

State District Attorney Doug Evans prosecuted all six of Flowers's trials.{{cite news |last1=Stribling |first1=Wilson |title=AG: 'No timeline' for next steps in Curtis Flowers case |url=https://www.wlbt.com/2020/02/27/ag-no-timeline-next-steps-curtis-flowers-case/ |access-date=March 22, 2020 |work=WLBT |date=February 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302151917/https://www.wlbt.com/2020/02/27/ag-no-timeline-next-steps-curtis-flowers-case/ |archive-date=March 2, 2020|url-status=live}} The first through third trials (1997, 1999, 2004) ended in convictions but were overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court – the first two because of prosecutorial misconduct; the third because District Attorney Evans was found to have discriminated against black jurors during jury selection.

The fourth (2007) and fifth (2008) ended in hung juries.{{cite news |last1=Zhu |first1=Alissa |title=Curtis Flowers: How a Mississippi man was tried six times for the same murders |url=https://eu.clarionledger.com/story/news/2019/03/18/curtis-flowers-what-you-need-know-six-murder-trials-us-supreme-court/3128798002/ |access-date=March 22, 2020 |work=The Clarion-Ledger |date=December 10, 2019|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200324135450/https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2019/03/18/curtis-flowers-what-you-need-know-six-murder-trials-us-supreme-court/3128798002/|archive-date=March 24, 2020|url-status=live}} The sixth (2010) resulted in a conviction, and an appeal failed.

In 2016 the U.S. Supreme Court referred the sixth trial back to the Mississippi Supreme Court for review of racial discrimination in jury selection.{{cite news |title=Curtis Flowers' conviction overturned over removal of black jurors |url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/jun/22/curtis-flowers-conviction-supreme-court-removal-of-black-jurors |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=The Guardian |agency=Associated Press |date=June 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319113705/https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/jun/22/curtis-flowers-conviction-supreme-court-removal-of-black-jurors |archive-date=March 19, 2020|url-status=live}} The following year the state court confirmed the original decision. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Flowers's conviction in 2019 because of Evans' efforts to keep black people off the jury. Flowers was released on bail to await the state's next decision. Evans recused himself from the case and handed the case to the State Attorney General. In 2020, it was announced that charges would be dropped against Flowers.{{cite news |last1=Bogel-Burroughs |first1=Nicholas |last2=Rojas |first2=Rick |date=September 4, 2020 |title=After 8 Murder Trials and 24 Years, Charges Dropped Against Curtis Flowers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/us/after-6-murder-trials-and-24-years-charges-dropped-against-curtis-flowers.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 4, 2020 }}

Flowers was first tried in 1997, before Judge Clarence E. Morgan III.{{cite web| last=Baran|first=Madeleine|author-link1=Madeleine Baran |title=In the Dark: S2 E1: July 16, 1996 |url=https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/05/01/in-the-dark-s2e1 |website=AMP Reports |publisher=American Public Media |access-date=March 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219212107/https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/05/01/in-the-dark-s2e1| archive-date=February 19, 2020|url-status=live}} The prosecutor decided to try Flowers for the death of the store owner, Bertha Tardy, as occurring in the course of a robbery. This would increase the penalty for conviction, making the defendant eligible for the death penalty. The prosecution said that bloody footprints found at the crime scene were a size 10½, the same as that worn by Flowers. They were identified as Fila's Grant Hill style, which witnesses said Flowers had been wearing that morning.{{cite news |last1=Grinberg |first1=Emanuella |title=Mississippi man faces sixth capital murder trial in 1996 shootings |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/06/curtis.flowers.trial/ |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=CNN |date=June 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212183959/http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/06/curtis.flowers.trial/ |archive-date=February 12, 2020|url-status=live}}

In addition, prosecution witnesses testified that projectiles found at the crime scene were most likely from a .380 caliber weapon, the same as a gun stolen from Flowers's uncle on the morning of the murders. Forensic evidence revealed gunpowder residue on Flowers's hand.{{cite news |last1=Zhu |first1=Alissa |title=Curtis Flowers: What you need to know about the Winona furniture store quadruple homicides |url=https://eu.clarionledger.com/story/news/2019/03/18/curtis-flowers-what-you-need-know-quadruple-homicide/3128793002/ |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=The Clarion-Ledger |date=December 10, 2019|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190621150208/https://eu.clarionledger.com/story/news/2019/03/18/curtis-flowers-what-you-need-know-quadruple-homicide/3128793002/|archive-date=June 21, 2019|url-status=live}} $400 was found to be missing from the till, and $235 was found in Flowers's headboard. According to two of Flowers's cellmates in the first jail in which he was held, Flowers admitted to them that he had stolen the money and committed the murders. Flowers denied this.{{cite court |litigants=Curtis Giovanni Flowers v. State of Mississippi |vol= |reporter=773 So. 2d 309 |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=Supreme Court of Mississippi |date=2000 |url=https://courts.ms.gov/Images/Opinions/Conv9858.pdf |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707231045/https://courts.ms.gov/Images/Opinions/Conv9858.pdf | archivedate=July 7, 2018|url-status=live}} Of the original two witnesses to the confession, both later retracted their testimony.{{cite web |last=Baran|first=Madeleine | author-link1=Madeleine Baran |title=In the DarK: S2 E4: The Confessions |url=https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/05/15/in-the-dark-s2e4 |website=APM Reports |publisher=American Public Media |access-date=March 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212211747/https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/05/15/in-the-dark-s2e4 |archive-date=February 12, 2020|url-status=live}} A third witness alleged a later confession by Flowers when the both of them were in a different prison, after the first trial, but that witness also later recanted.

Flowers maintained that he was innocent of the murders{{cite news |last1=Higgins |first1=Tucker |last2=Mangan |first2=Dan |title=Supreme Court rules for Curtis Flowers, black man tried six times for Mississippi murders |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/21/supreme-court-rules-for-curtis-flowers-black-man-tried-six-times-for-murder.html |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=CNBC |date=June 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217034819/https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/21/supreme-court-rules-for-curtis-flowers-black-man-tried-six-times-for-murder.html |archive-date=December 17, 2019|url-status=live}} and said he never admitted any crimes to his cellmates. He stated he had simply stopped going to the job and did not know he had been fired.{{cite web |last1=Baran |first1=Madeleine |author-link1=Madeleine Baran |title=In the Dark: S2 E9: Why Curtis? |url=https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/06/19/in-the-dark-s2e9 |website=APM Reports |publisher=American Public Media |access-date=March 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212125005/https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/06/19/in-the-dark-s2e9 |archive-date=February 12, 2020|url-status=live}} He said he was wearing Nike shoes that day, the clothes he was wearing did not match the description given by eyewitnesses, and the particulate matter on his hands was due to his having handled fireworks the day before the murders. In 1997 he was convicted of the murder of the store owner by an all-white jury and sentenced to death.

The conviction verdict in the first trial was overturned in 2000 by the Mississippi Supreme Court after Flowers appealed. The court held that evidence presented by Evans on behalf of the state was prejudicial because, in presenting evidence for all four murders, it went beyond that necessary to prove the murder of Tardy alone.{{cite court |litigants=Flowers v. Mississippi |vol= |reporter=Syllabus: Flowers v. Mississippi: Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Mississippi |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=Supreme Court of the United States |date=2018 |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-9572_k536.pdf |access-date=March 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200320123922/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-9572_k536.pdf | archivedate=March 20, 2020|url-status=live}} In addition, the prosecutor was held to have asked questions "not in good faith" and "without basis in fact." The court remanded the case for a re-trial.

While the first case was still under appeal, prosecutors initiated a second trial for the murder of employee Derrick Stewart at the Tardy store. Morgan was the judge again; one black person was on the jury. Scheduled for September 1998, the court granted the defense a change of venue, moving the trial to Harrison County due to the difficulties in getting a fair and impartial jury in Montgomery County, and the trial started in on March 22, 1999. Flowers was convicted on March 30 and sentenced to death. This verdict was also overturned (in 2003) on appeal by the Mississippi Supreme Court, which held that Evans' prosecution "employed many of the same tactics during the second trial" as it did in the first, the court had improperly allowed evidence regarding the other murders to be admitted, and that other prosecutorial errors were made.{{cite court |litigants=Curtis Giovanni Flowers v. State of Mississippi |vol= |reporter=842 So. 2d 531 |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=Supreme Court of Mississippi |date=2003 |url=https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1836662/flowers-v-state/ |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228155424/https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1836662/flowers-v-state/ | archivedate=December 28, 2019}}

A third trial on charges of four counts of murder was concluded on February 12, 2004, and Flowers was convicted of each murder. The jury sentenced him to death. Morgan was again the judge. The verdict was overturned in 2007 by the Mississippi Supreme Court as it held that Evans' peremptory challenges in jury selection were racially motivated and thus unconstitutional. During the selection process, Evans challenged African-American jurors with its first seven strikes, which resulted in a Batson challenge by the defense (Batson v. Kentucky (1986) established that peremptory challenge cannot be used to discriminate against jurors based on race, ethnicity, or sex{{cite web |last1=Romano |first1=Aja |title=Curtis Flowers was tried 6 times for the same crime. The Supreme Court just reversed his conviction. |url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/11/6/18064430/curtis-flowers-scotus-decision-conviction-overturned-in-the-dark-podcast |website=Vox |access-date=March 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128162745/https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/11/6/18064430/curtis-flowers-scotus-decision-conviction-overturned-in-the-dark-podcast |archive-date=January 28, 2020 |date=June 21, 2019|url-status=live}}). Following its submission of non-racial grounds for its challenges, Evans used all of the state's five remaining challenges to strike African-American jurors. This left the jury with only two African-American jurors, one of which was subsequently excused after informing the judge that he could not be impartial.{{cite court |litigants=Curtis Giovanni Flowers v. State of Mississippi |vol= |reporter=947 So. 2d 910 |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=Supreme Court of Mississippi |date=2004|url=http://www.mssc.state.ms.us/Images/Opinions/CO33400.PDF |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325040945/https://courts.ms.gov/Images/Opinions/CO33400.PDF | archivedate=March 25, 2017|url-status=dead}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20170325040945/https://courts.ms.gov/Images/Opinions/CO33400.PDF Archived 25 March 2017] Evans then used the state's three alternate juror strikes to exclude African-Americans. The final jury consisted of one African-American and 11 whites. (The county population is 45% African American.{{cite court |litigants=Curtis Giovanni Flowers v. State of Mississippi |vol= |reporter=On Writ Of Certiorari To The Supreme Court Of Mississippi: Joint Appendix Volume 1 |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=Supreme Court of the United States |date=2018|url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-9572/77740/20181227145331304_Flowers%2017%209572%20Joint%20Appendix%20Volume%201.pdf |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324131703/https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-9572/77740/20181227145331304_Flowers%2017%209572%20Joint%20Appendix%20Volume%201.pdf | archivedate=March 24, 2020|url-status=live}})

The state Supreme Court stated that there was disparate treatment by the prosecutor in evaluation of black compared with white jurors on issues such as the jurors' connections with the defendants and the jurors' willingness to use the death penalty; he struck blacks from the jury on grounds for which he did not strike whites. In addition, the court found that although in many cases Evans presented race-neutral reasons to strike, he used the challenge process as "an exercise in finding race neutral reasons to justify racially motivated strikes." The Mississippi Supreme Court overturned the conviction, saying there had been "as strong [a] case of racial discrimination as we have ever seen in the context of a Batson challenge".

At the fourth trial, before Morgan in 2007 on four counts of murder, the prosecution did not seek the death penalty{{cite court |litigants=Curtis Giovanni Flowers a/k/a Curtis Flowers a/k/a Curtis G. Flowers v. State of Mississippi |vol= |reporter=2010–DP–01348–SCT |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=Supreme Court of Mississippi |date=2014|url=https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/CO99057.pdf |access-date=March 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922021019/https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/CO99057.pdf | archivedate=September 22, 2019|url-status=live}} on the request of family of the victims who, aware that the defense would have the harder task of appealing a higher court if the sentence was life in prison, wanted the trial concluded so they could 'move on'. Evans exhausted the state's peremptory challenges in jury selection striking off black candidates;{{cite news |last1=Liptak |first1=Adam |title=When Does Kicking Black People Off Juries Cross a Constitutional Line? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/us/politics/black-jurors-constitution-curtis-flowers.html |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=February 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200316031312/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/us/politics/black-jurors-constitution-curtis-flowers.html |archive-date=March 16, 2020|url-status=live}} the resulting jury, however, had five African Americans on it.{{cite news |last1=Totenburg |first1=Nina |title=Supreme Court Strikes Down Conviction Of Mississippi Man On Death Row For 22 Years |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/06/21/732159330/supreme-court-strikes-down-conviction-of-mississippi-man-on-death-row-for-22-yea |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=NPR |date=June 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224093422/https://www.npr.org/2019/06/21/732159330/supreme-court-strikes-down-conviction-of-mississippi-man-on-death-row-for-22-yea |archive-date=February 24, 2020|url-status=live}} The fourth trial ended in a mistrial, as the jury was split 7–5 in favor of conviction; votes could be classified by race, among other factors, with African Americans voting to acquit.{{cite news |last1=Le Coz |first1=Emily |title=Lawyers for Mississippi death-row inmate want conviction overturned |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mississippi-deathrow-idUSKBN0FQ29Q20140721 |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=Reuters |date=July 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221100526/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mississippi-deathrow/lawyers-for-mississippi-death-row-inmate-want-conviction-overturned-idUSKBN0FQ29Q20140721 |archive-date=February 21, 2018|url-status=live}}{{cite court |litigants=Curtis Giovanni Flowers v. State of Mississippi |vol= |reporter=2010-DP-01348-SCT |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=Supreme Court of Mississippi |date=2004 |url=http://courts.ms.gov/Images/Orders/dc00001_live.SCT.10.DP.1348.98.0.pdf |access-date=March 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408151717/http://courts.ms.gov/Images/Orders/dc00001_live.SCT.10.DP.1348.98.0.pdf |archivedate=April 8, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 8, 2016 }}

The prosecution sought the death penalty for Flowers for the four murders in his fifth trial, which took place in 2008.{{cite news |last1=Land |first1=Monica |title=Judge has alternate juror arrested on perjury charge |url=https://www.grenadastar.com/2008/09/29/judge-has-alternate-juror-arrested-on-perjury-charge/ |access-date=March 22, 2020 |work=Grenada Star |date=September 29, 2008|archive-date=March 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323121455/https://www.grenadastar.com/2008/09/29/judge-has-alternate-juror-arrested-on-perjury-charge/|url-status=live}} This time Joseph Loper sat as judge. On the first day of testimony, an alternate juror, the only black woman on the jury,{{cite news |last1=Land |first1=Monica |title=No 7th trial for Curtis Flowers in quadruple murder |url=https://eu.clarionledger.com/story/news/2014/11/16/th-trial-curtis-flowers-quadruple-murders/19155449/ |access-date=March 22, 2020 |work=The Clarion-Ledger |date=November 17, 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200324140254/https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2014/11/16/th-trial-curtis-flowers-quadruple-murders/19155449/|archive-date=March 24, 2020|url-status=live}} was arrested for perjury for lying during jury selection when she said she did not know Flowers.{{cite news |title=Alternate juror in Flowers's trial in jail |url=http://www.wlbt.com/global/story.asp?S=9075073 |work=WLBT |date=September 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222043106/http://www.wlbt.com/global/story.asp?S=9075073 |archive-date=February 22, 2012|url-status=dead}} The trial, with a jury of nine white and three black jurors, concluded in 2008 in a mistrial due to a hung jury.{{cite news |last1=Zaveri |first1=Mihir |title=Curtis Flowers's Conviction Tossed by Mississippi Supreme Court |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/us/curtis-flowers-doug-evans.html |access-date=March 22, 2020 |work=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108233633/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/us/curtis-flowers-doug-evans.html |archive-date=January 8, 2020|date=August 29, 2019|url-status=live}} James Bibbs, an African American, was the sole juror opposed to conviction. Immediately after the trial the judge, Joseph Loper, accused Bibbs of perjury{{cite news |title=Mistrial declared in fifth Flowers trial |url=http://www.desototimes.com/news/mistrial-declared-in-fifth-flowers-trial/article_e675e8cc-30f1-5260-bfd5-77db70589dbd.html |access-date=March 22, 2020 |work=DeSoto Times-Tribune |date=October 2, 2008|agency=Associated Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323123417/http://www.desototimes.com/news/mistrial-declared-in-fifth-flowers-trial/article_e675e8cc-30f1-5260-bfd5-77db70589dbd.html|archive-date=March 23, 2020|url-status=live}} for having lied during jury selection. Loper recommended Bibbs be prosecuted by Doug Evans, who, after eight months, recused himself and the new prosecution dropped the charges against Bibbs as there was no evidence.{{cite web |last1=Thrasher |first1=Steven W. |title=Sex, Race, and the Law: Considering America 'In the Dark' |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/sex-race-law-considering-america-dark/ |website=The Nation|date=July 18, 2018 |access-date=March 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200309214608/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/sex-race-law-considering-america-dark/|archive-date=March 9, 2020|url-status=live}} Loper was also recused as judge in Bibbs' trial.{{cite news |last1=McLaughlin |first1=Lacey |title=Majority White Jury in Flowers Trial |url=https://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2010/jun/11/majority-white-jury-in-flowers-trial/ |access-date=March 22, 2020 |work=Jackson Free Press |date=June 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323124636/https://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2010/jun/11/majority-white-jury-in-flowers-trial/|archive-date=March 23, 2020|url-status=live}}

A jury for a sixth capital murder trial was convened in Winona, Mississippi on June 10, 2010; it was composed of eleven white jurors and one black juror, and presided over by Judge Loper. Following 30 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Flowers guilty of four counts of capital murder.{{cite news |last1=Grinberg |first1=Emanuella |title=One crime, six trials and a 30-minute guilty verdict |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/18/mississippi.curtis.flowers/ |access-date=March 27, 2016 |work=CNN |date=June 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629103232/http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/18/mississippi.curtis.flowers/ |archive-date=June 29, 2018|url-status=live}} After deliberating for approximately 90 minutes during the penalty phase, the jury returned a death sentence.{{cite news |title=Jury sentences Curtis Flowers to death |url=https://www.clarionledger.com/article/20100619/NEWS/100619009/Jury-sentences-Curtis-Flowers-to-death |work=The Clarion-Ledger |date=June 21, 2010}}{{dead link|date=March 2016}} An appeal by Flowers failed, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruling in 2014 that the conviction was to be upheld.

In June 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court included Flowers's case among three capital cases it remanded to lower courts to review for racial bias by the prosecution in jury selection. In November 2017, the Mississippi Supreme Court renewed its prior determination, and affirmed Flowers's conviction and death sentence from the sixth trial.{{cite court |litigants=Curtis Giovanni Flowers a/k/a Curtis Flowers a/k/a Curtis G. Flowers v. State of Mississippi |vol= |reporter=2010-DP-01348-SCT |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=Supreme Court of Mississippi |date=2017|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/mississippi/supreme-court/2017/2010-dp-01348-sct.html |access-date=March 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401231057/https://law.justia.com/cases/mississippi/supreme-court/2017/2010-dp-01348-sct.html | archivedate=April 1, 2019|url-status=live}}

{{Further|In the Dark (podcast)#Season 2}}

In 2018, the second season of the American Public Media podcast In the Dark was based on reporting about the Flowers case, hosted and reported by journalist Madeleine Baran. Through in-depth investigative reporting, serious doubt was cast on the legitimacy of the case against Flowers, including claims by numerous witnesses that they had perjured themselves, potential misconduct by the prosecutor, and the disappearance of a gun, potentially the murder weapon, after it was turned over to police.{{cite podcast |last=Baran|first=Madeleine|author-link1=Madeleine Baran |title=The End|website=In the Dark|publisher=American Public Media|date=July 3, 2018 |url=https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/07/03/in-the-dark-s2e11 |access-date=March 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226140201/https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/07/03/in-the-dark-s2e11|archive-date=February 26, 2020|url-status=live}}{{cite magazine|title=Why "In the Dark" May Be the Best Podcast of the Year |last=Larson |first=Sarah |magazine=The New Yorker |date=June 1, 2019 |access-date=November 25, 2019 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/podcast-dept/why-in-the-dark-may-be-the-best-podcast-of-the-year|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215031451/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/podcast-dept/why-in-the-dark-may-be-the-best-podcast-of-the-year|archive-date=February 15, 2020|url-status=live}}

{{main|Flowers v. Mississippi}}

New evidence uncovered during the In the Dark investigation was used by Flowers's lawyers to attempt to get his conviction overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.{{cite web |last1=Locker |first1=Melissa |title=How a podcast helped get Curtis Flowers' conviction overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90367631/curtis-flowers-supreme-court-conviction-overturned-podcast |website=Fast Company |access-date=March 23, 2020 |date=June 21, 2019}}{{cite news |title=The $1 Million Podcast Investigation That Won A Supreme Court Case |url=http://www.insideradio.com/podcastnewsdaily/the-million-podcast-investigation-that-won-a-supreme-court-case/article_1eb78212-96a0-11e9-a6ca-73298af25043.html |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=Inside Radio |date=June 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911122156/http://www.insideradio.com/podcastnewsdaily/the-million-podcast-investigation-that-won-a-supreme-court-case/article_1eb78212-96a0-11e9-a6ca-73298af25043.html |archive-date=September 11, 2019|url-status=live}} A petition for a writ of certiorari was filed,{{cite court |litigants=Curtis Giovanni Flowers v. State of Mississippi |vol= |reporter=Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the Mississippi Supreme Court |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=Supreme Court of the United States |date=2017|url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-9572/50955/20180621220012371_Flowers%20petition%20for%20certiorari.pdf |access-date=March 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331211658/https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-9572/50955/20180621220012371_Flowers%20petition%20for%20certiorari.pdf | archivedate=March 31, 2019|url-status=live}} seeking review of the Mississippi Supreme Court's application of Batson v. Kentucky.{{ussc|name=Flowers v. Mississippi|volume=588|year=2019|docket=17-9572|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712140351/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/588/17-9572/|archivedate=July 12, 2019|url-status=live}}. The U.S. Supreme Court granted the writ on November 2, 2018.

The court heard oral argument on March 20, 2019.{{cite web |last1=Heller |first1=Callie |title=SCOTUS Hears Oral Arguments in Case with Six Trials and Multiple Batson Violations |url=https://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/death_penalty_representation/project_press/2019/spring/supreme-court-hears-oral-arguments-in-case-with-six-trials-and-multiple-batson-violations/ |website=American Bar Association |access-date=March 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324160835/https://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/death_penalty_representation/project_press/2019/spring/supreme-court-hears-oral-arguments-in-case-with-six-trials-and-multiple-batson-violations/ |archive-date=March 24, 2020|url-status=live}} Amicus briefs on behalf of Flowers were filed by the Magnolia Bar Association, the Mississippi Center for Justice, and Innocence Project New Orleans.{{cite court |litigants=Curtis Giovanni Flowers v. State of Mississippi |vol= |reporter=Brief of amici curiae the Magnolia Bar Association, the Mississippi Center for Justice, and Innocence Project New Orleans |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=Supreme Court of the United States |date=2018|url=https://features.apmreports.org/documents/?document=4896081-2018-07-26-Brief-Amici-Curiae-Flowers-v-Miss |access-date=March 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323152709/https://features.apmreports.org/documents/?document=4896081-2018-07-26-Brief-Amici-Curiae-Flowers-v-Miss | archivedate=March 23, 2019|url-status=live}} On June 21, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Flowers's sixth conviction with a vote of 7–2 in Flowers v. Mississippi.{{cite news |title=Curtis Flowers: Death row conviction quashed over racial bias |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48723972 |access-date=March 24, 2020 |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=June 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816220959/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48723972 |archive-date=August 16, 2019 |url-status=live}} The Supreme Court's decision was made based on the argument that the prosecutor, Doug Evans, had committed a Batson violation by striking all but one prospective black juror in Flowers's sixth trial. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the majority decision:

"The state's relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of black individuals strongly suggests that the state wanted to try Flowers before a jury with as few black jurors as possible, and ideally before an all-white jury. We cannot ignore that history."{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-overturns-mississippi-mans-murder-conviction-in-case-that-raised-questions-of-racial-bias-orders-new-trial/2019/06/21/6fc1b2d8-942d-11e9-b570-6416efdc0803_story.html|last=Barnes|first=Robert|title=The Supreme Court tossed Curtis Flowers's death-row conviction, ruling it was racially biased|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=21 June 2019|access-date=23 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218060103/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-overturns-mississippi-mans-murder-conviction-in-case-that-raised-questions-of-racial-bias-orders-new-trial/2019/06/21/6fc1b2d8-942d-11e9-b570-6416efdc0803_story.html|archive-date=18 December 2019|url-status=live}}

Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented from the Court's decision.

The Washington Post described Evans as conducting "a prosecutorial pursuit that may be without parallel". In total in the six trials, Evans had used 41 of 42 challenges to exclude African Americans from the juries.

Flowers continued to be held at Parchman, then at the Grenada County, Mississippi, jail,{{cite news |title=Curtis Flowers moved from Parchman to the Grenada County jail |url=https://www.wtva.com/content/news/Curtis-Flowers-moved-from-Parchman-to-the-Grenada-County-jail-561231991.html |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=WTVA |agency=Associated Press |date=September 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927011703/https://www.wtva.com/content/news/Curtis-Flowers-moved-from-Parchman-to-the-Grenada-County-jail-561231991.html |archive-date=September 27, 2019|url-status=live}} and the Winston-Chickasaw Regional Correctional Facility, in Louisville, Mississippi,{{cite news|title=Curtis Flowers transferred to new jail because of "publicity" concerns|first=Taylor| last=Vance|work=Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal |date=October 1, 2019|access-date=March 23, 2020|url=https://www.djournal.com/news/crime-law-enforcement/curtis-flowers-transferred-to-new-jail-because-of-publicity-concerns/article_a0e66cb4-3d89-5beb-b7e0-f7baf439423d.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025235556/https://www.djournal.com/news/crime-law-enforcement/curtis-flowers-transferred-to-new-jail-because-of-publicity-concerns/article_a0e66cb4-3d89-5beb-b7e0-f7baf439423d.html|archive-date=October 25, 2019|url-status=live}} pending decisions from prosecutors and the local court on any future prosecution. Flowers's attorneys petitioned for the charges to be dismissed, or failing that, for bail to be granted and for Doug Evans to be removed from any role in the prosecution, citing the multiple findings of prosecutorial misconduct in the case.{{cite news |last1=Wamsley |first1=Laurel |title=Man Whose Conviction Was Overturned By Supreme Court After 6 Trials Is Granted Bail |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/12/16/788413418/man-whose-conviction-was-overturned-by-supreme-court-after-6-trials-is-granted-b |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=NPR |date=December 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304192624/https://www.npr.org/2019/12/16/788413418/man-whose-conviction-was-overturned-by-supreme-court-after-6-trials-is-granted-b |archive-date=March 4, 2020|url-status=live}}

Evans was sued in federal court by the local NAACP chapter on behalf of multiple Flowers's jury pool members, seeking class action status to include all jury-eligible black residents of his district, based on his alleged systematic racial discrimination in jury selection.{{cite news|last=Shu |first=Alissa |title=Curtis Flowers: NAACP sues Mississippi prosecutor who tried man 6 times for the same crime |newspaper=The Clarion-Ledger |date=November 19, 2019 |access-date=November 25, 2019 |url=https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2019/11/18/curtis-flowers-naacp-sues-mississippi-prosecutor-who-tried-man-6-times-same-crime/4230895002/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200324140609/https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2019/11/18/curtis-flowers-naacp-sues-mississippi-prosecutor-who-tried-man-6-times-same-crime/4230895002/|archive-date=March 24, 2020|url-status=live}} This suit was later dismissed on procedural grounds.{{cite web|last=Yesko|first=Parker|title=Judge dismisses lawsuit against DA Doug Evans|work=AMP Reports |publisher=American Public Media|date=September 11, 2020|access-date=September 22, 2020|url=https://www.apmreports.org/story/2020/09/11/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-against-doug-evans}}

On December 16, 2019, Judge Loper granted Flowers bail in the amount of $250,000, of which he was required to deposit 10 percent.{{Cite web|url=https://www.apmreports.org/story/2019/12/16/curtis-flowers-bail|title=Curtis Flowers released on bail|last=Yesko|first=Parker|date=December 16, 2019|website=APM Reports|publisher=American Public Media|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217034804/https://www.apmreports.org/story/2019/12/16/curtis-flowers-bail|archive-date=December 17, 2019|access-date=March 23, 2020|url-status=live}} Flowers was restricted to his residence, and required to wear an ankle monitor.{{cite news |last1=Mangan |first1=Dan |title=Curtis Flowers — black man tried six times for same murders — released on bail after Supreme Court reversed case detailed in podcast |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/16/bail-set-for-curtis-flowers-in-murder-case-overturned-by-supreme-court.html |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=CNBC |date=December 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231003248/https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/16/bail-set-for-curtis-flowers-in-murder-case-overturned-by-supreme-court.html |archive-date=December 31, 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite news |last1=Knowles |first1=Hannah |last2=Hawkins |first2=Derek |title=After 6 trials over the same killings, Curtis Flowers can await a possible 7th from home |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2019/12/16/curtis-flowers-can-go-home-he-awaits-potential-seventh-murder-trial-judge-says/ |access-date=March 23, 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129081738/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2019/12/16/curtis-flowers-can-go-home-he-awaits-potential-seventh-murder-trial-judge-says/ |archive-date=January 29, 2020|url-status=live}} Judge Loper noted in his decision that several of the prosecution's key witnesses had recanted. In addition, the podcast In the Dark reported that potentially exculpatory evidence had been uncovered, as well as alternative suspects, seemingly leaving the prosecution with a weaker case than in the previous trials.

Judge Loper reprimanded Evans, who was expected to but did not attend the hearing, for taking no action over the preceding four months to further Flowers's case despite court orders to do so.{{cite news |last1=Zhu |first1=Alissa |title=Curtis Flowers freed on bond for the first time in more than two decades, six trials |url=https://eu.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2019/12/16/curtis-flowers-free-bond-after-two-decades-six-trials-murders-winona-mississippi/4356777002/ |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=The Clarion-Ledger |date=December 16, 2019|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200324140912/https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2019/12/16/curtis-flowers-free-bond-after-two-decades-six-trials-murders-winona-mississippi/4356777002/|archive-date=March 24, 2020|url-status=live}} District Attorney Evans, prosecutor in all six of Flowers's trials, recused himself from the case in January 2020 and asked the presiding judge to turn over prosecution to the Mississippi Attorney General's office. The state declined to prosecute Flowers for the seventh time, officially dropping all charges against Flowers on September 4, 2020.{{cite news |title=Prosecutor recuses himself in case of Curtis Flowers, tried six times in same murder |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/prosecutor-recuses-himself-case-curtis-flowers-tried-six-times-same-n1111611 |access-date=March 23, 2020 |work=NBC News |agency=Associated Press |date=January 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212035506/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/prosecutor-recuses-himself-case-curtis-flowers-tried-six-times-same-n1111611 |archive-date=February 12, 2020|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Breaking: Evans Recuses Himself|last=Sexton Ferguson|first=Amanda|date=January 6, 2020|access-date=January 21, 2020|publisher=Winona Times|url=https://www.winonatimes.com/front-page-slideshow-news-breaking-news/breaking-evans-recuses-himself#sthash.XqBCn7bX.dpbs|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200314141328/https://www.winonatimes.com/front-page-slideshow-news-breaking-news/breaking-evans-recuses-himself|archive-date=March 14, 2020|url-status=live}} The Attorney General's office stated that it would be nearly impossible to convict Flowers due to the lack of any available living witnesses who had not recanted or otherwise rendered their testimony unusable by making multiple conflicting statements, the identification of alternative suspects, and new potentially-exculpatory evidence.{{cite web | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/us/after-6-murder-trials-and-nearly-24-years-charges-dropped-against-curtis-flowers.html | title = After 6 Murder Trials and Nearly 24 Years, Charges Dropped Against Curtis Flowers | first = Nicholas | last = Bogel-Burroughs | date = September 4, 2020 | access-date = September 4, 2020 | work = The New York Times }} The case was dismissed with prejudice,{{cite news|last=Sexton Fergusson|first=Amanda|title=Charges against Curtis Flowers dismissed|publisher=The Winona Times|url=https://www.winonatimes.com/carrollton-slideshow-front-page-slideshow-news-breaking-news-crime/charges-against-curtis-flowers#sthash.k2bATsj7.dpbs|date=September 4, 2020|access-date=September 19, 2020|archive-date=September 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923014801/https://www.winonatimes.com/carrollton-slideshow-front-page-slideshow-news-breaking-news-crime/charges-against-curtis-flowers#sthash.k2bATsj7.dpbs|url-status=dead}} barring further prosecution and thus freeing Flowers and bringing the case to a formal conclusion.

{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flowers, Curtis}}

Category:1970 births

Category:Living people

Category:Overturned convictions in the United States

Category:People from Winona, Mississippi

Category:People convicted of murder by Mississippi

Category:Law enforcement controversies in the United States

Category:Murder in Mississippi