Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash
The Black man Curtis Flowers has sued the district attorney who convicted him six times for 23 years of wrongfully imprisoning him.
The complaint was filed on Friday (Sept. 3) and included Montgomery County Attorney Doug Evans along with three detectives. A complaint alleges that Evans and the investigators committed misdemeanor including “pressuring witnesses to believe that Mr. Flowers was present during specific time periods on the day of the murder” and overlooking alternative possibilities. Flowers does not reveal the amount they are demanding in their complaint. This decision must be made by the jury.
Attorney Rob McDuff, who represents Flowers, said the charges against him should never have been brought. McCDuff stated that the homicides “were clearly the work of professional criminals” and that the client had no criminal history.
“There was repeated misconduct and racial discrimination throughout the prosecution,” the attorney said. We are suing for accountability for those misconducts.”
Having been convicted of the 1996 shooting deaths of four people, Flowers spent nearly half of his adult life on death row. Two weeks before the shootings took place, he was employed at the Tardy Furniture Store in Winona. Three victims were fatally shot in the head – store owner Bertha Tardy, Robert Goldenm, Carmen Rigby and Derrick Stewart.
A charge was brought against Flowers despite the fact that prosecutors had no evidence and no idea as to the motive behind the slayings. Even though many experts said there were signs that a number of people were involved in the shooting, Flowers was the only one charged. His convictions were for four killings: twice for all four and twice for each one separately. All four deaths were the subject of mistrials in two other trials. The convictions were later overturned. A seventh trial against Flowers is not being pursued when Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced the state will not proceed, freeing Flowers after 23 years in prison.
© 2021, Jonathan P-Wright. All rights reserved.
