Curtis Flowers, a Black man who spent more than ۲۲ years in prison and was on death row in Mississippi before the US supreme court threw out his conviction and death sentence, has died. He was ۵۶.
Flowers’ family confirmed that he died on Wednesday at his home in Mississippi, attorney Rob McDuff told the Associated Press on Thursday.
No cause of death was given, said McDuff, who was part of Flowers’ legal team.
Flowers was ۲۶ when he was arrested several months after the July ۱۹۹۶ shooting deaths of four people inside a furniture store in Winona, Mississippi.
At the time, prosecutors described him as a disgruntled former employee who sought revenge against the store’s owner because she fired him and withheld most of his pay to cover the cost of merchandise he damaged. Nearly $۳۰۰ was found missing after the killings.
Flowers was tried in the killings six times. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the high court’s ۷-۲ decision in ۲۰۱۹ that the removal of Black prospective jurors deprived Flowers of a fair trial.
During the sixth trial in ۲۰۱۰, Flowers was sentenced to death. There were ۱۱ white jurors and one Black juror who considered the case after district attorney Doug Evans struck five Black prospective jurors.
Flowers remained in prison for six months after the supreme court ruling because he was still under indictment. He finally was released in December ۲۰۱۹ after a judge set bond.
Mississippi dropped charges against Flowers in September ۲۰۲۰.
“Today, I am finally free from the injustice that left me locked in a box for nearly ۲۳ years,” Flowers said in a statement. “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.”
