AT LONG LAST OFF THE HOOK

Mississippi AG drops charges against black man tried 6 times in same quadruple murder case

By Kenneth Garger

New York Post
September 4, 2020

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch on Friday dropped the charges against Curtis Flowers, a black man tried six times for the same 1996 quadruple murder — and always by the same white prosecutor.

“It is in the interest of justice that the State will not seek an unprecedented seventh trial of Mr. Flowers,” Fitch’s order states, according to WLBT, one of several outlets reporting that Flowers is at long last off the hook.

Flowers — whose case was the subject of the second season of the award-winning “In the Dark” podcast — was elated.

“Today is a great day!” the 50-year-old wrote in a statement obtained by the Clarion Ledger.

“I am finally free from the injustice that left me locked in a box for nearly 23 years.

“I’ve been asked if I ever thought this day would come. I have been blessed with a family that never gave up on me and with them by my side, I knew it would,” he said.

Flowers was accused of murdering four people at a furniture store and had been jailed for more than 22 years.

He was allowed to walk free on bond in December 2019 after the Supreme Court overturned his sixth conviction.

In the 7-2 ruling, the court had found that the prosecutor, Fifth Circuit District Attorney Doug Evans, unconstitutionally kept African Americans off the jury.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the court’s majority opinion, which ruled that prosecutors “engaged in dramatically disparate questioning of black and white prospective jurors” at Flowers’ sixth trial.

Flowers was found guilty in his first three trials, but those convictions were tossed out by Mississippi’s top court. His other two trials ended in hung juries.

Fitch on Friday filed the motion to dismiss Flowers’ case, in part, over a lack of witnesses, the Clarion Ledger reported. The AG’s office noted in court filings that the all the state’s key witnesses are either dead or have previously given conflicting statements.

One of Flowers’ attorneys, Rob McDuff, also expressed relief the case — which he said “never made sense” — came to end.

“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,” McDuff said in a statement to the Clarion Ledger.