WINONA, Miss. — Curtis Flowers, a Mississippi man who spent over two decades in prison and endured six trials for the same crime before his conviction was overturned, has died, according to his legal representation. He was 56.
Flowers died Wednesday at his home in Winona, according to defense attorney Rob McDuff. Official statements from his legal team did not provide a cause of death.
Flowers spent nearly 23 years in custody—much of it on death row—following his 1996 arrest in connection with the fatal shootings of four employees at Tardy Furniture in Winona. Former Montgomery County District Attorney Doug Evans tried Flowers six separate times for the killings.
Three of those trials ended in convictions that were later overturned by appellate courts due to prosecutorial misconduct. Two other trials ended in hung juries.
In June 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated Flowers’ final conviction in a 7–2 ruling. Writing for the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh stated that the prosecution had engaged in a “relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of Black individuals” during jury selection.
All criminal charges against Flowers were officially dismissed in September 2020 by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office. According to state judicial records, Flowers was later awarded $500,000 in compensation for wrongful imprisonment, the maximum amount allowable under state law.
Flowers’ case gained national prominence after being thoroughly detailed by reporters on the investigative podcast In the Dark, which highlighted significant discrepancies in witness testimony and physical evidence.
