The (re)trial of Curtis Flowers looks to be stacked against him (again)

Wait, I need to repeat that bit, the judge thought there was no cause to dismiss a juror who had actually WATCHED two of the previous trials.

On the ninth day -- Friday -- Curtis, 40, was found guilty of four counts of murder in the July 16, 1996 shooting deaths of four people inside the Tardy family's furniture store in downtown Winona.

The seven women and five men on the jury took just half an hour to resolve a case that has haunted the courts of Montgomery County, Mississippi, for 13 years.

The earlier convictions were reversed, based on findings of prosecutorial misconduct in the first two trials and racial discrimination in choosing the jury in the third trial. The fourth trial ended in a hung jury, with panelists split 5-7 along racial lines. The fifth trial, in 2008, also ended in a mistrial after a lone black juror held out for acquittal.

The previous outcomes raised allegations from the defendant's supporters that the prosecution is racially motivated. They say Flowers cannot get a fair trial in Montgomery County as long as whites outnumber blacks on the jury. This time around, one black juror and two black alternates have been chosen.
that have been leading to wrongful convictions are involved in this case.


A step in the right direction, according to Bean, would be to seat a jury that represents the racial diversity of Montgomery County, where about 45 percent of the population is black. But at the sixth trial, some blacks in the jury pool were dismissed because of personal ties to the defendant and his family...

...I'm spending my vacation in the lovely town of Winona so I can attend a capital murder trial for a man named Curtis Flowers. He is accused of murdering four people in 1996 and this will be the sixth time he is being tried for this crime. ...

I can't explain the court system to you, MsO. I thought that you were tried once per level and that you moved up in the system after each appeal.

ISSUES

I. THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED, VIOLATING FLOWERS'S RIGHTS UNDER THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT, WHEN IT OVERRULED THE DEFENDANT'S BATSON MOTION

II. FLOWERS WAS DENIED HIS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL BY THE ADMISSION OF EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENT OF OTHER CRIMES IN VIOLATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION, LAW, RULES OF EVIDENCE AND SIXTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.

III. FLOWERS WAS DENIED HIS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL DUE TO PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT

IV. FLOWERS WAS DENIED HIS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL BY THE TRIAL COURT'S IMPROPER AND HIGHLY PREJUDICIAL COMMENTS ON THE EVIDENCE BEFORE THE JURY

V. FLOWERS WAS DENIED HIS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL BY THE JURY'S LACK OF KNOWLEDGE REGARDING THE TESTIMONY OF TIMOTHY HAYMORE AND THE TRIAL COURT ERRED EITHER BY EXCLUDING HIM FROM TESTIFYING OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, BY REFUSING TO CONTINUE THE TRIAL UNTIL FREDERICK VEAL RETURNED TO COURT

VI. FLOWERS WAS DENIED HIS RIGHT TO EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL IN VIOLATION OF THE SIXTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE 3, SECTIONS 14 AND 26 OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION VII. FLOWERS WAS DENIED HIS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL DUE TO THE TRIAL COURT'S FAILURE TO INSTRUCT THE JURY THAT THE ALLEGED PRIOR INCONSISTENT STATEMENTS OF HIS WITNESSES WERE NOT TO BE CONSIDERED AS SUBSTANTIVE EVIDENCE BUT ONLY FOR IMPEACHMENT AND REFUSAL OF INSTRUCTION D-12

VIII. THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR BY OVERRULING FLOWERS'S OBJECTIONS TO THE TESTIMONY OF JACK MATTHEWS

IX. THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR BY REFUSING THE CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE INSTRUCTIONS OFFERED BY FLOWERS X. THE EVIDENCE WAS INSUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT FLOWERS'S CONVICTION FOR CAPITAL MURDER AND THE VERDICT OF DEATH.

XI. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY REFUSING INSTRUCTIONS D-11 AND D-14 AND, CONSEQUENTLY, THE JURY WAS INADEQUATELY INSTRUCTED ON THE LAW AS TO CAPITAL MURDER VIOLATING FLOWERS'S RIGHTS UNDER THE FEDERAL AND STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

XII. PATRICIA HOLLMAN'S TESTIMONY REGARDING A STATEMENT ALLEGEDLY MADE BY FLOWERS AND HER LAY OPINION AS TO THE MEANING OF THE STATEMENT WAS INADMISSIBLE AND RESULTED IN PREJUDICE REQUIRING REVERSAL.

XIII. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY OVERRULING FLOWERS' OBJECTION TO EXHIBITS S 15, S 15A, S 17 AND S 17 A AND FLOWERS WAS DENIED HIS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL BY THE ADMISSION OF EXHIBITS S 16, S 16A, S 20, S 20A, S 21 AND S 21A.

XIV. THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR BY EXCLUDING THE TESTIMONY OF KHARITA BASKIN.

XV. FLOWERS WAS DENIED HIS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL BY THE ADMISSION OF EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENT OF ANOTHER CRIME DURING THE SENTENCING PHASE.

XVI. FLOWERS WAS DENIED HIS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL DUE TO PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT DURING THE SENTENCING PHASE. XVII. FLOWERS WAS DENIED A FAIR AND RELIABLE SENTENCING HEARING DUE TO AN INADEQUATE JURY INSTRUCTION ON THE AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCE OF "PECUNIARY GAIN" AND THE PROSECUTION'S COMMENT THEREON.

XVIII. THE SUBMISSION OF THE "ROBBERY-PECUNIARY GAIN" AGGRAVATING FACTOR, AND THE COURT'S REFUSAL OF INSTRUCTIONS DS-7 AND DS-8, VIOLATED THE FIRST AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

XIX. THE CIRCUIT JUDGE VIOLATED MISSISSIPPI LAW AND THE EIGHTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION BY INSTRUCTING THE JURY THAT IT COULD CONSIDER THE DEATHS OF THE VICTIMS IN OTHER CASES UNDER INDICTMENT AS AN AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCE, ESPECIALLY WHERE NO COMPETENT EVIDENCE SUPPORTED THIS AGGRAVATING FACTOR.

XX. FLOWERS WAS DENIED HIS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL BY THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF THE MATTERS ADDRESSED ABOVE.