Curtis Flowers, Freed After Six Trials and 22 Years on Death Row, Dies at 56
Curtis Flowers, who spent more than 22 years in prison and on death row in Mississippi after being wrongfully convicted of four murders, died Wednesday at his home in Mississippi. He was 56. WLBT
His family confirmed the death through attorney Rob McDuff to the Associated Press on Thursday. McDuff had been part of Flowers' legal team. No cause of death was given. The Guardian
Flowers was 26 when he was arrested several months after the July 1996 shooting deaths of four people inside a furniture store in Winona, Mississippi. Prosecutors described him as a disgruntled former employee seeking revenge after the store owner fired him and withheld most of his pay for damaged merchandise. Nearly $300 was found missing after the killings.
He was tried six times. His first three trials each ended in convictions and death sentences. The Mississippi Supreme Court later reversed them, meaning it canceled them over legal errors. It pointed to numerous instances of prosecutorial misconduct, or improper actions by the prosecutor. He was sentenced to death again at his sixth trial in 2010. That jury had 11 white jurors and one Black juror after District Attorney Doug Evans struck, or removed, five Black prospective jurors.
In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out that conviction and death sentence in a 7-2 decision. The case was docketed as No. 17-9572, Flowers v. Mississippi. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that removal of Black prospective jurors deprived Flowers of a fair trial. Flowers remained in prison for six months after the ruling because he was still under indictment, still formally charged and facing the chance of another trial. He was released in December 2019 after a judge set bond, money paid to allow release before trial. Mississippi dropped the charges in September 2020.
The broader context here is how much legal process can follow after verdicts fall apart. For lawyers, judges and policymakers who track jury selection and the power of prosecutors, Flowers became a reference point. Reversal did not bring immediate freedom. Indictment, bond and the chance of another trial kept him incarcerated after the Supreme Court decision. Release came in stages. Dismissal came later still. That sequence helps explain why the case drew sustained national attention, from court filings to investigative reporting. Questions about local prosecution practices, oversight by judges and the durability of death sentences continued after Flowers left prison. His death closes the personal chapter. The questions it raised about who is tried, how juries are chosen and how errors are corrected will continue to be argued by others.
