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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 17 december 2019
Mississippi man freed months after court rules racial bias

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS prosecutors had shown an
Associated Press unconstitutional pattern of
LOUISVILLE, Miss. (AP) — A excluding African Ameri-
Mississippi man whose mur- can jurors in the trials of
der conviction was over- Flowers, who is black.
turned by the U.S. Supreme After the Supreme Court
Court for racial bias was re- ruling, Flowers was moved
leased from custody Mon- off death row at the Mis-
day for the first time in 22 sissippi State Penitentiary
years. at Parchman and taken to
Curtis Flowers walked out of the Louisville jail.
the regional jail in the cen- During the bond hearing,
tral town of Louisville hours Loper said it was "troubling"
after a judge set his bond that prosecutors had not
at $250,000. A person who responded to a previous
wanted to remain anony- defense motion to drop the
mous posted $25,000, the charges against Flowers.
10% needed to secure He said if prosecutors do
Flowers' release, said his at- not respond, "the state will
torney Rob McDuff. reap the whirlwind" from
At the bond hearing earlier him.
Monday in the city of Win- Assistant District Attorney
ona, Circuit Judge Joseph William Hopper left the
Loper ordered Flowers to hearing without speaking Curtis Flowers flanked by sister Priscilla Ward, right, exits the Winston Choctaw Regional Correctional
wear an electronic moni- to news reporters. He de- Facility in Louisville, Miss., Monday, Dec. 16, 2019.
tor while waiting for the clined to comment when Associated Press
district attorney's office to asked if the district attor-
decide whether to try him ney's office would try Flow- they wrote letters to each Mississippi, and U.S. High- can residents as potential
a seventh time or drop the ers again. other and spoke on the way 82, which runs east to jurors because of their race.
charges. Flowers also must Supporters who were phone every few weeks, west. It about a half-hour's The lawsuit cites an analysis
check in once a week with among the more than 150 and that he talked about drive from the flatlands of jury strikes by Evans from
a court clerk, McDuff said. people packing the wood- meeting her 2-year-old of the Mississippi Delta. 1992 to 2017 by American
He said attorneys would file en pews of the 1970s-era daughter, who calls him Among its 4,300 residents, Public Media's
papers asking the judge to courtroom hugged Flowers "Paw-Paw." about 48% are black and "In the Dark" podcast. It
dismiss the charges. after the judge announced "We're so much alike," 44% are white. Census found Evans' office used
Flowers was accompanied his decision. His father, Ar- Ghoston said. "We laugh all Bureau figures show that peremptory strikes, which
from the jail Monday by his chie Lee Flowers, choked the time on the phone." about 30% live in poverty. lawyers typically don't
attorneys and two sisters, back tears. He said the first Ghoston, of Grenada, Mis- In mid-November, four have to explain, to remove
Priscilla Ward and Charita thing he would do when sissippi, said after her fa- black voters and a branch 50% of eligible black jurors,
Baskin. The siblings said his son was released, was ther's release, they will take of the NAACP filed a feder- but only 11% of eligible
they were going home to pray. their first-ever photo to- al lawsuit asking a judge to white jurors. The analysis
fry some fish for dinner and The elder Flowers said he gether. permanently order Evans was performed as part of a
hang out together. frequently visited his son Winona sits near the cross- and his assistants to stop us- series of episodes question-
"It's been rough," Flowers in prison, where they sang roads of Interstate 55, the ing peremptory challenges ing Flowers' conviction in his
said. "Taking it one day at and prayed together. He major north-south artery in to remove African Ameri- sixth trial.q
a time, keeping God first — said he has always believed
in his son's innocence.
that's how I got through it." Four people were shot to Fake social accounts bring down
When asked another ques-
tion, Flowers sighed, smiled death on July 16, 1996, in
and tossed his hands in the the Tardy Furniture store in police chief — and successor
air. the north Mississippi city of
"I'm so excited right now, I Winona. They were owner BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Brandon del Pozo’s, it high- chief of the department
can't even think straight," Bertha Tardy, 59, and three Hours after the police chief lights a widespread prob- earlier Monday after del
he said with a laugh. employees: 45-year-old in Vermont’s largest city lem of leadership being Pozo submitted his resigna-
Flowers was convicted four Carmen Rigby, 42-year- resigned over using a fake caught in the web of social tion over backlash from us-
times in connection with a old Robert Golden and social media account to media. ing a fake Twitter account.
quadruple slaying in Wino- 16-year-old Derrick "Bobo" heckle a critic, the mayor “Given the circumstances He’s accused of using the
na in 1996: twice for individ- Stewart. announced that the officer the department is fac- anonymous account to
ual slayings and twice for A daughter of Tardy was acting as chief revealed ing, I found the failure to respond to a critic for one
all four killings. Two other tri- in court Monday. She sat she too has used a fake ac- raise this issue with me in hour on July 4 before delet-
als involving all four deaths across the aisle and one count. the lead-up to today to ing the account.
ended in mistrials. row back from Flowers' Deputy Chief Jan Wright constitute a lapse in judg- He had initially lied to a
Each of the convictions daughter, Crystal Ghoston, told Burlington’s mayor ment,” Weinberger said in Seven Days newspaper re-
was overturned, but Flow- who sat in the front row. Monday that she used a a statement. As a result, porter when asked about it
ers has remained in jail be- Ghoston, 26, told The Asso- fake Facebook account to Weinberger named Dep- in July. Days later, he con-
cause the original murder ciated Press that she had engage citizens in police uty Chief Jon Murad the fessed to the mayor. Wein-
indictment is still active. seen her father only once policy talk. new acting chief and said berger said he had placed
During his sixth trial in 2010, since he was imprisoned: Mayor Miro Weinberger Murad has “confirmed ex- him on administrative leave
Flowers was sentenced to about 10 years ago, and said that while Wright’s plicitly” to the city attorney and directed him to turn in
death. The U.S. Supreme even then she could only fake account was differ- that he has never used a his badge, gun and city
Court overturned that con- talk to him through a rein- ent than former Burlington fake social media account. phone and to stop using
viction in June, finding that forced window. She said Police Department Chief Wright was named interim social media. q