Curtis Flowers Sues Prosecutor Who Tried Him Six Times

Curtis Flowers was arrested successful 1997 aft being accused of sidesplitting 4 radical astatine a furnishings store successful Mississippi. He spent 23 years successful situation until helium was released successful 2019, and charges against him were dropped the pursuing year.

Now Mr. Flowers is suing the territory lawyer who prosecuted him six times. His lawyers accidental helium is seeking “accountability” for the clip helium wrongfully spent successful prison.

“Given the lack of immoderate coagulated grounds against Mr. Flowers, defendants engaged successful repeated misconduct to fabricate a lawsuit that ne'er should person been brought,” says the suit, which was filed successful national tribunal successful Mississippi connected Friday. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

The suit names arsenic defendants Doug Evans, the Montgomery County territory attorney, and 3 investigators — John Johnson, Jack Matthews and Wayne Miller — who worked with Mr. Evans. Montgomery County is not named arsenic a defendant.

Mr. Evans did not instantly respond to requests for remark connected Saturday. Mr. Johnson, Mr. Matthews and Mr. Miller could not beryllium reached.

In a statement connected Friday, Rob McDuff of the Mississippi Center for Justice, a lawyer for Mr. Flowers, 51, said his lawsuit “never should person been charged.”

“Curtis Flowers was 26 years aged with nary transgression grounds and thing successful his past to suggest helium would perpetrate a transgression similar this,” Mr. McDuff said. “The prosecution was tainted passim by radical favoritism and repeated misconduct. This suit seeks accountability for that misconduct.”

Mr. Flowers was accused of sidesplitting 4 radical successful a furnishings store wherever helium had worked for 3 and a fractional days. His apprehension did not travel until six months later, successful January 1997.

His lawsuit drew wide attraction and was chronicled successful a play of the podcast bid “In the Dark,” which broke down respective aspects of the case, including an occurrence connected the weapon utilized successful the killings, which was ne'er found.

Three radical were recovered dormant wrong the Tardy Furniture store successful Winona, Miss., connected July 16, 1996: Robert Golden, Carmen Rigby and Bertha Tardy. A 4th victim, Derrick Stewart, died from his gunshot wounds astatine a infirmary astir a week later, according to the suit.

The murders happened during a “spree of equipped robberies and murders successful commercialized establishments and banks that plagued Montgomery County and adjacent counties from 1995 to 1997,” the suit says.

“No plausible motive tied Mr. Flowers to the crimes,” the suit says. “The prosecution’s mentation was that Mr. Flowers, a gospel vocalist with nary transgression record, decided to perpetrate a quadruple execution with precision shooting due to the fact that helium was upset implicit having been fto spell from a minimum wage job.”

In his astir caller trial, Mr. Flowers was convicted and sentenced to death, but his lawyers appealed the condemnation to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled successful 2019 that the prosecutor, Mr. Evans, had unconstitutionally kept Black radical from serving connected the jury.

In the Supreme Court’s bulk opinion, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote that “Equal justness nether instrumentality requires a transgression proceedings escaped of radical favoritism successful the assemblage enactment process.”

By pursuing a “relentless, determined effort to escaped the assemblage of Black individuals,” Justice Kavanaugh wrote, the authorities wanted to effort Mr. Flowers “ideally earlier an all-white jury.”

In March, a justice successful Mississippi ordered the authorities to wage Mr. Flowers $500,000, the maximum the instrumentality allows, for wrongfully imprisoning him for much than 20 years. The bid came aft Mississippi had passed a caller instrumentality successful 2009 to supply compensation to radical who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for felony crimes.

While successful prison, Mr. Flowers missed retired connected respective beingness events, including the ceremonial of his mother, the suit says.

Kaitlyn Golden, 1 of his lawyers, said Mr. Flowers “can ne'er get backmost the 23 years of his beingness that helium spent successful prison.”

“The instrumentality allows guiltless radical to record lawsuits seeking to clasp authorities officials accountable for misconduct starring to wrongful imprisonment,” she said. “With this case, we anticipation to bash conscionable that, and to question immoderate redress for Curtis Flowers for the horrors helium endured implicit much than 2 decades down bars.”