Embattled longtime prosecutor Doug Evans, who tried Curtis Flowers six times for murder and saw his convictions overturned on appeal, lost his bid to become judge for the 5th Circuit Court (article available here).
As a circuit court judge, Evans could hear criminal cases in the same district where the U.S. Supreme Court said he prevented Black people from serving as jurors, including in Flowers’ case.
Evans, who has been the district attorney of the district for over 30 years, first tried Flowers in 1997 for the killings of four people at the Tardy Furniture store in Winona.
Evans secured four death penalty convictions for Flowers, but those were overturned by state and federal courts. In two trials, a jury didn’t reach a unanimous verdict.
Evans recused himself after the Mississippi Center for Justice, which represented Flowers, asked for him to be removed from the case. Attorney General Lynn Fitch was appointed as the lead prosecutor.
In September 2020, Fitch’s office dropped charges against Flowers after he spent 23 years in prison, most of it on death row at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
In 2021, Flowers sued Evans in federal court for misconduct. A federal judge ordered the case stayed until May 1, 2023.