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In the Dark

Factual: Crime & Justice: True Crime

How can one man be tried six times for the same crime?

Curtis Flowers has been tried six times for the same crime. For more than 22 years, he’s maintained his innocence, winning appeal after appeal. But every time Flowers’ conviction has been reversed, the prosecutor tried the case again. Reporters from American Public Media spent two years investigating the Flowers case to find out what the evidence really shows, and why the same prosecutor has tried the case again and again.

In the Dark: Before the court

Factual: Crime & Justice

28/09/2019 GMT

Before the court

BBC World Service - In the Dark, Before the court

The US Supreme Court agrees to hear Curtis Flowers’ case

The US Supreme Court agrees to hear Curtis Flowers’ case.

After more than 20 years, Curtis Flowers has the chance to bring his case before the US Supreme Court. The nation’s highest court has the power to overturn Flowers’ conviction. 

After six trials and more than 20 years, the case of Curtis Flowers took a stunning turn; the US Supreme Court agreed to hear Flowers' latest appeal of his 2010 conviction for the four murders at Tardy Furniture in Winona, Mississippi. Flowers would have his day before the nation’s highest court. At issue was whether District Attorney Doug Evans tried to keep African-Americans off the jury in Flowers’ most recent trial, a violation of the US Constitution.
In March, oral arguments took place in Washington, D.C. Then, after months of deliberation, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its opinion. In a 7-2 ruling, the justices threw out Flowers’ conviction, finding that the prosecutor in Flowers’ sixth trial had intentionally eliminated prospective jurors who were black. The decision of what happens next — whether to release Flowers or begin a seventh trial — now lies with the same man who has tried him from the beginning: District Attorney Doug Evans.

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