Flowers v. Mississippi

Curtis Flowers was indicted on four counts of capital murder with the underlying felony of armed robbery, stemming from the 1996 murders of four employees of Tardy Furniture Store in Winona, Mississippi. After six trials, he was convicted on all four counts of capital murder and sentenced to death. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and death sentence (“Flowers VI”). Flowers filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court. In Flowers v. Mississippi, 136 S. Ct. 2157 (2016), the Supreme Court granted Flowers’s petition, vacated the Mississippi Supreme Court’s judgment in Flowers VI, and remanded the case to Mississippi for further consideration in light of Foster v. Chatman, 136 S. Ct. 1737 (2016). The Supreme Court decided “Foster” after Flowers VI had been decided. Because the sole issue raised in Foster was whether the prosecution’s use of peremptory strikes was racially motivated in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), the Supreme Court’s order pertained to only one issue raised by Flowers in his latest appeal to the Mississippi Court - the Batson issue. Accordingly, the remaining issues addressed by the Court in Flowers VI were not disturbed and the Mississippi Court’s opinion as to the remaining issues was reinstated. After review and further consideration in light of Foster, the Mississippi Supreme Court found no Batson violation and reinstated and affirmed Flowers’s convictions and death sentence. View "Flowers v. Mississippi" on Justia Law