Curtis Flowers, Mississippi man wrongfully convicted after being tried for the same killings 6 times, dies at 56

Curtis Flowers, a Black Mississippi man who was wrongfully convicted multiple times for the same crime, has died. He was 56.

Flowers’ family confirmed his death Wednesday, his longtime attorney Rob McDuff told CBS News.

According to the Montgomery County coroner, the case remains under investigation.

Officials have not revealed the cause of death.

A Case Marked by Misconduct and Repeated Trials

Flowers spent more than 22 years behind bars as prosecutors tried him six times for the 1996 murders of four people at Tardy Furniture in Winona, CBS reports.

Each trial either ended in a mistrial or a conviction later overturned for prosecutorial misconduct or racial discrimination in jury selection.

In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Flowers’ conviction and death sentence, citing the prosecutor’s “relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of Black individuals.”

Across his trials, 61 of 72 jurors were White, and all voted to convict.

Investigators never found the murder weapon, and no DNA or fingerprints link Flowers to the crime.

Release and Exoneration

Flowers was released on bail in December 2019, leaving prison for the first time in 23 years.

Mississippi dismissed all charges in 2020, ending the decades‑long prosecution.

In 2021, Flowers was awarded $500,000 under Mississippi’s wrongful‑incarceration law.

Legacy and Impact

Flowers’ case drew national attention after American Public Media’s In the Dark podcast uncovered witness recantations and extensive racial bias in jury selection.

His legal team said they felt “privileged” to call him both a client and a friend.

Flowers battled diabetes during his imprisonment, a condition difficult to manage behind bars, according to Mississippi Today.