Curtis Flowers battled diabetes during his wrongful imprisonment

By Mina Corpuz | Originally published by Mississippi Today

As the cause of Curtis Flowers‘ death is under investigation, an attorney who represented him during multiple appeals, eventually leading to his exoneration and release from death row, said his former client struggled with diabetes the entire time he knew him – a condition that isn’t easy to manage in prison.

Flowers, 56, was found dead Wednesday at his family home in Winona, leaving behind siblings, a daughter and grandchildren. Family members were not immediately available for comment Friday. 

Flowers was convicted of four counts of capital murder but maintained his innocence through the string of trials that led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case about racial bias in jury selection. Decades of legal work led to his release from prison in 2019. 

State Public Defender Andre de Gruy, who was part of the team that represented Flowers during his third through sixth trials, said Flowers enjoyed meeting law school students and interns and talking about the relationship between a client and their attorney. 

“He had more experience in the courtroom and legal system than they will ever have,” de Gruy said. 

De Gruy said he talked with Flowers a few weeks ago. They were laughing together and catching up about life. They have kept in touch over the years after Flowers returned home. 

When they last spoke, Flowers was trying to find a job. He wasn’t sure what type of work he could pursue, de Gruy said, because Flowers didn’t have access to vocational training while on death row.

De Gruy said he and Flowers talked about the possibility of Flowers doing clerical work at the State Public Defender’s Office, but Flowers would have had to relocate to Jackson. He didn’t seem interested in moving, de Gruy said. In Winona, Flowers was close to family and was able to care for his father until his death last year. 

“He felt like he was able to pay back some of the love his family had shown to him,” de Gruy said. 

In July 1996, Flowers was accused of fatally shooting four people at Tardy Furniture in Winona. Then-Montgomery County District Attorney Doug Evans spent nearly two decades prosecuting Flowers six times, each time resulting in a hung jury or a guilty verdict later overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

The sixth trial resulted in a death sentence. The state court heard and denied appeals twice, and Flowers’ case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

In 2018, the American Public Media podcast “In the Dark” investigated Flowers’ case and presented evidence of a history of racial bias in jury selection by Evans and evidence that suggested someone else may have committed the shootings.

Flowers’ case went before the U.S. Supreme Court twice, and in June 2019, the court decided 7-2 to overturn Flowers’ conviction, finding that Evans intentionally struck Black people from serving on the jury that convicted Flowers, who was Black. 

Afterward, Evans recused himself and the state attorney general’s office stepped in. Months later in December 2019, Circuit Judge Joey Loper dismissed Flowers’ capital murder charges with prejudice on a motion by the attorney general’s office.

Flowers left death row and the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, but he spent some time in other jails and prisons before he was released and returned home.

This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Source: Original Article