Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 4, 2006 2:03:28 GMT -5
Flowers in 2004 was convicted of killing 4 people in Winona furniture store shooting
Death-row inmate Curtis Giovanni Flowers has won a new trial in the killings of 4 people at a Winona furniture store because prosecutors sought to keep blacks off his Montgomery County jury, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Flowers had argued before the justices in February that race
discrimination in the selection of the jury cast doubt on the fairness of his trial.
Flowers, 35, who is black, was convicted in 2004 of capital murder in the deaths of four people during a shooting spree at a Winona furniture store in 1996. Death penalty cases are automatically reviewed by the Supreme Court.
Twice before, Flowers was convicted of capital murder involving one of the victims, and each time his conviction and death sentence were thrown out on appeal.
In 2004, Flowers was convicted of all four murders - store owner Bertha Tardy, 59; store employees Derrick Stewart, 16, and Carmen Rigby, 45; and delivery man Robert Golden, 42. Flowers also was convicted of robbing the store of at least $400 that was in the cash drawer.
Prosecutors said Flowers, who had been fired from his job at the business, had not received his last paycheck.
They said Tardy had kept the check as payment for golf cart batteries she thought Flowers had damaged.
Defense attorneys claimed Flowers was at a relative's home at the time of the murders. They argued that no one saw Flowers go in or come out of the store on the day of the murders.
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision Thursday, said the trial judge erred in upholding prosecutors' peremptory strikes exercised against two blacks in the jury pool.
Since 1986, prosecutors have been barred from disqualifying potential jurors based on their race. One thing prosecutors must show is that they had a race neutral reason to excuse a potential juror.
"After carefully reviewing the record before this Court and the applicable law, we find that the state engaged in racially discriminatory practices during the jury selection process," wrote Justice James E. Graves Jr. for the majority of the court.
Chief Justice James W. Smith Jr., in a dissent joined by three other
justices, said he found no discrimination in prosecutors' explanations for not accepting the 2 prospective jurors.
Smith said one of the prospective jurors knew the defendant while the other's husband had had run-ins with local law enforcement officers.
"The state does not want jurors sitting on the jury who are acquainted with the defendant or his family, considering the possible conflict created between a person's natural tendency to align with a friend or acquaintance," Smith wrote. "Also, the state does not want jurors whose relatives have had run-ins with the law, and thus might have a disposition to distrust law enforcement who are likely to testify on the state's behalf."
Graves said the court record showed the prosecution exercised all 15 of its peremptory strikes on blacks, and the lone black who ultimately sat on Flowers' jury was seated after the state ran out of peremptory challenges.
"Such a result cannot be considered 'happenstance,' " Graves wrote.
Presiding Justices Bill Waller Jr. and Kay Cobb and Justices Oliver Diaz Jr. and Jess thingyinson joined in the decision to grant Flowers a new trial.
Justices Chuck Easley, George C. Carlson Jr. and Michael Randolph joined in the dissent with Smith.
(source: Clarion Ledger)
Death-row inmate Curtis Giovanni Flowers has won a new trial in the killings of 4 people at a Winona furniture store because prosecutors sought to keep blacks off his Montgomery County jury, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Flowers had argued before the justices in February that race
discrimination in the selection of the jury cast doubt on the fairness of his trial.
Flowers, 35, who is black, was convicted in 2004 of capital murder in the deaths of four people during a shooting spree at a Winona furniture store in 1996. Death penalty cases are automatically reviewed by the Supreme Court.
Twice before, Flowers was convicted of capital murder involving one of the victims, and each time his conviction and death sentence were thrown out on appeal.
In 2004, Flowers was convicted of all four murders - store owner Bertha Tardy, 59; store employees Derrick Stewart, 16, and Carmen Rigby, 45; and delivery man Robert Golden, 42. Flowers also was convicted of robbing the store of at least $400 that was in the cash drawer.
Prosecutors said Flowers, who had been fired from his job at the business, had not received his last paycheck.
They said Tardy had kept the check as payment for golf cart batteries she thought Flowers had damaged.
Defense attorneys claimed Flowers was at a relative's home at the time of the murders. They argued that no one saw Flowers go in or come out of the store on the day of the murders.
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision Thursday, said the trial judge erred in upholding prosecutors' peremptory strikes exercised against two blacks in the jury pool.
Since 1986, prosecutors have been barred from disqualifying potential jurors based on their race. One thing prosecutors must show is that they had a race neutral reason to excuse a potential juror.
"After carefully reviewing the record before this Court and the applicable law, we find that the state engaged in racially discriminatory practices during the jury selection process," wrote Justice James E. Graves Jr. for the majority of the court.
Chief Justice James W. Smith Jr., in a dissent joined by three other
justices, said he found no discrimination in prosecutors' explanations for not accepting the 2 prospective jurors.
Smith said one of the prospective jurors knew the defendant while the other's husband had had run-ins with local law enforcement officers.
"The state does not want jurors sitting on the jury who are acquainted with the defendant or his family, considering the possible conflict created between a person's natural tendency to align with a friend or acquaintance," Smith wrote. "Also, the state does not want jurors whose relatives have had run-ins with the law, and thus might have a disposition to distrust law enforcement who are likely to testify on the state's behalf."
Graves said the court record showed the prosecution exercised all 15 of its peremptory strikes on blacks, and the lone black who ultimately sat on Flowers' jury was seated after the state ran out of peremptory challenges.
"Such a result cannot be considered 'happenstance,' " Graves wrote.
Presiding Justices Bill Waller Jr. and Kay Cobb and Justices Oliver Diaz Jr. and Jess thingyinson joined in the decision to grant Flowers a new trial.
Justices Chuck Easley, George C. Carlson Jr. and Michael Randolph joined in the dissent with Smith.
(source: Clarion Ledger)