Curtis Flowers charges dropped, saga come to an end

 Curtis Flowers charges dropped, saga come to an end.

The Mississippi man endured nearly 23 years behind bars, six trials, four death sentences and, most recently, months of house arrest for murders he always maintained that he didn’t commit, and for which the evidence of his guilt was weak.

His legal odyssey ended Friday when the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, which had been reviewing the case since February, submitted a motion to dismiss the indictments against him for the 1996 murders of four people in Winona, Mississippi. Judge Joey Loper then signed an order granting the motion. The move brought the State of Mississippi v. Curtis Flowers to a decisive close.

“Today, I am finally free from the injustice that left me locked in a box for nearly 23 years,” Flowers said in a statement released by his attorneys. “I’ve been asked if I ever thought this day would come. … With a family that never gave up on me and with them by my side, I knew it would.”

Flowers’ case became the focus of national attention two years ago after an investigation by APM Reports’ podcast In the Dark found that his conviction was based on unreliable evidence.

"This prosecution was flawed from the beginning and was tainted throughout by racial discrimination. It should never have occurred and lasted far too long, but we are glad it is finally over," said Rob McDuff, a lawyer with the Mississippi Center for Justice, who took over Flowers' defense after the Supreme Court reversed Flowers' conviction. 

District Attorney Doug Evans had tried Flowers an unprecedented six times for the murders at the Tardy Furniture store, which shattered the rural community of Winona. Evans couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday afternoon at his office or home.

Flowers’ first three trials resulted in death sentences that were overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court. His fourth and fifth trials ended in hung juries. Flowers’ sixth trial, in 2010, sent him back to death row at Parchman prison, where he might have remained had the U.S. Supreme Court not decided to take up his case.

In June 2019, the High Court reversed Flowers’ conviction and death sentence, sending his case back to Montgomery County for a possible seventh trial and touching off a string of legal victories.

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