Mississippi inmate tried 6 times for murder granted release on bond

Associated Press

5 years ago

This Aug. 3, 2017 photo provided by Mississippi Department of Corrections shows Curtis Flowers, who's murder case has gone to trial six times. Supreme Court justices are again considering how to keep prosecutors from removing African-Americans from criminal juries for racially biased reasons, this time in a case involving a Mississippi death row inmate who has been tried six times for murder. (Mississippi Department of Corrections via AP)

WINONA, Miss. – A Mississippi man whose murder conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court for racial bias is being released from custody for the first time in 22 years.

During a hearing Monday, a judge set a $250,000 bond for 49-year-old Curtis Flowers.

Circuit Judge Joseph Loper said Flowers would have to wear an electronic monitor.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned Flowers’ fourth conviction, citing racial bias in the jury selection.

Loper says it is “troubling” that prosecutors have not responded to a defense motion to drop the charges against Flowers.

Flowers has been tried six times for murder in the 1996 shooting deaths of four people in a Winona furniture store. Two trials ended in mistrials.

Those slain in the Tardy Furniture business were 59-year-old store owner Bertha Tardy and three employees — 45-year-old Carmen Rigby, 42-year-old Robert Golden and 16-year-old Derrick “Bobo” Stewart.