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Crime

Mississippi Supreme Court sends Flowers case back for possible seventh trial

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In what was largely a procedural move, the Mississippi Supreme Court threw out the latest conviction and death sentence for Curtis Flowers yesterday, sending the case back to Montgomery County.

Flowers, 49, has now been on trial six times for the 1996 murder of four people in Winona, Miss. He is accused of killing Bertha Tardy, owner of Tardy Furniture, and three of the store’s employees: Robert Golden, Carmen Rigby and Derrick Stewart.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Flowers fourth conviction, saying prosecutor Doug Evans excluded black jurors based solely on their race. In three previous trials that ended in convictions, the Mississippi Supreme Court threw them out due to prosecutorial misconduct. Two others ended in mistrials. The state court upheld a 2010 conviction, which eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It’s not yet clear whether Evans will pursue a seventh trial.

Flowers, though, will be transferred out of his cell on Parchman’s death row, according to the Clarion Ledger. Technically, his legal status is accused but not tried. He will be transferred to the Montgomery County Jail awaiting Evans’ next move.

The unprecedented number of Flowers’ trials has attracted national attention. The case has been examined by the “In the Dark” podcast, a program on Starz TV and other media, all of which have cast doubt on his guilt.

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