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Mistried
Can a person be tried more than once for the same crime in the United States? Under usual circumstances, no. But in Mississippi, one man was tried six times for the same brutal crime - and his ordeal still hasn’t ended.
One July morning in 1996, three people were discovered dead and one at death’s door in a furniture store in Winona, Mississippi. Three of the victims were White - including the store owner. That same day, a Black man, Curtis Flowers, was identified as the prime suspect.
Flowers had worked at the store for three days and had quit under questionable circumstances. But almost no substantive evidence linked him to the crime. A devout Christian and gospel singer, Flowers had no prior criminal record and the barest of motives. Caught between a relentless Mississippi prosecutor and the fury of both African-American and White communities in his town, Flowers has endured six separate trials over more than a decade in a case that remains undecided.
One July morning in 1996, three people were discovered dead and one at death’s door in a furniture store in Winona, Mississippi. Three of the victims were White - including the store owner. That same day, a Black man, Curtis Flowers, was identified as the prime suspect.
Flowers had worked at the store for three days and had quit under questionable circumstances. But almost no substantive evidence linked him to the crime. A devout Christian and gospel singer, Flowers had no prior criminal record and the barest of motives. Caught between a relentless Mississippi prosecutor and the fury of both African-American and White communities in his town, Flowers has endured six separate trials over more than a decade in a case that remains undecided.
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First published May 20, 2013
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About the author
Paul Alexander
124 books43 followersBesides the bestselling Kindle Singles Murdered, Accused, and Homicidal, Paul Alexander has published eight previous books of nonfiction: Ariel Ascending: Writings About Sylvia Plath; Rough Magic, a biography of Plath; Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean, the bestseller that has been published in 10 countries; Death and Disaster: The Rise of the Warhol Empire and the Race For Andy’s Millions; Man of the People: The Life of John McCain; The Candidate, a chronicle of John Kerry’s presidential campaign; and Machiavelli’s Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove.
A former reporter for Time, Alexander has published journalism in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, New York, The Nation, The Village Voice, Salon, Worth, The New York Observer, George, Cosmopolitan, More, Interview, ARTnews, Mirabella, Premiere, Out, The Advocate, Travel & Leisure, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Biography, Men’s Journal, Best Life, The New York Review of Books, The Daily Beast, and Rolling Stone.
Shane Salerno’s forthcoming feature documentary Salinger is based on Alexander’s biography of J.D. Salinger. Alexander is the author of the plays Strangers in the Land of Canaan and Edge, which he directed. Developed at The Actors Studio, Edge, the critically acclaimed one-woman play about Sylvia Plath, ran in New York, London, Los Angeles, among other cities. Edge toured Australia and New Zealand and enjoyed a second run in New York. In all, Torn performed Edge 400 times. Alexander is also the director of Brothers in Arms, a documentary film about John Kerry and Vietnam (First Run Features).
A graduate of The University of Alabama and The Writers’ Workshop at The University of Iowa, Alexander is a member of the Authors Guild and PEN American Center. In the fall of 2002, he was a Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He lives in New York City.
A former reporter for Time, Alexander has published journalism in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, New York, The Nation, The Village Voice, Salon, Worth, The New York Observer, George, Cosmopolitan, More, Interview, ARTnews, Mirabella, Premiere, Out, The Advocate, Travel & Leisure, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Biography, Men’s Journal, Best Life, The New York Review of Books, The Daily Beast, and Rolling Stone.
Shane Salerno’s forthcoming feature documentary Salinger is based on Alexander’s biography of J.D. Salinger. Alexander is the author of the plays Strangers in the Land of Canaan and Edge, which he directed. Developed at The Actors Studio, Edge, the critically acclaimed one-woman play about Sylvia Plath, ran in New York, London, Los Angeles, among other cities. Edge toured Australia and New Zealand and enjoyed a second run in New York. In all, Torn performed Edge 400 times. Alexander is also the director of Brothers in Arms, a documentary film about John Kerry and Vietnam (First Run Features).
A graduate of The University of Alabama and The Writers’ Workshop at The University of Iowa, Alexander is a member of the Authors Guild and PEN American Center. In the fall of 2002, he was a Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 4, 2024
This is a fairly short book with no good happy endings, and this case still makes me feel angry. Poor Curtis. This stuff is terrible that it happens so much.
August 15, 2015
This brief but well-written account is about a Mississippi prosecutor's relentless efforts to send Curtis Flowers to Death Row following a seriously flawed investigation and six unconstutional trials.
The murders of Bertha Tardy and three of her employees was gruesome and tragic. For whatever reason, evidence was bought or manufactured to implicate Flowers. The reason for this apparent vendetta was never made clear.
Everyone associated with this travesty needs to be investigated and charged as appropriate. No one is safe when the justice system is corrupt. The same thing could happen to you or to me.
The murders of Bertha Tardy and three of her employees was gruesome and tragic. For whatever reason, evidence was bought or manufactured to implicate Flowers. The reason for this apparent vendetta was never made clear.
Everyone associated with this travesty needs to be investigated and charged as appropriate. No one is safe when the justice system is corrupt. The same thing could happen to you or to me.
September 19, 2013
Read my full review: http://bit.ly/158WNi4
My opinion: I thought this was a concisely written for a short novel, but would have preferred to see it written as a full length book. I also found the jacket to be somewhat misleading as to conviction status of the defendant. He was found guilty by a jury of "peers" vs. double jeopardy, yet had his convictions reversed on technicalities. On that note, the author brought other points to "ponder", but felt they were "skimped" on because of length of book.
My opinion: I thought this was a concisely written for a short novel, but would have preferred to see it written as a full length book. I also found the jacket to be somewhat misleading as to conviction status of the defendant. He was found guilty by a jury of "peers" vs. double jeopardy, yet had his convictions reversed on technicalities. On that note, the author brought other points to "ponder", but felt they were "skimped" on because of length of book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews