Stop at 10. Enough is enough.
2
I must ask this question because it is truly baffling: do white Americans really despise black Americans that much? Is a 100% white jury unable to serve justice to someone of another race? Are black jurors unable to convict a fellow black person?
Land of the free, home of the brave? Sounds like an oxymoron.
17
Mississippi. Don’t go there. For any reason. It is a hateful, racist place.
12
I thought there was a law against double (or in Flowers’ case hexa) jeopardy?
7
Prosecutors such as Evans who lie in court must be treated the same as anyone else who lies in a court trial. They must be indicted, and punished, for perjury.
Of course: It would be necessary to bring them to Federal court, where their protectors couldn't rescue them.
11
I appreciate what David is saying, and especially appreciate the tip about what sounds like an excellent Podcast. But I have to also object to the characterization of black people as being the only or primary people affected by overzealous prosecution. An inordinate number of poor white people, as well as Latinos and others are also behind bars for the wrong reasons. If you want to hear one of the very most egregious examples of a Prosecutor gone completely off the rails, watch the excellent Sean Penn funded and narrated documentary Witch Hunt, where a California DA ruined the lives of many innocent white suburbanites, claiming they had indulged in child molestation rings. Its wrong wherever, and however it happens and yes, if black people seem to get victimized more than others that is perhaps "doubly" wrong.
My home state of Oklahoma incarcerates more people than almost any other state. The worst subset of data concerns women, many of whom are poor and white. We put more women behind bars than any other state in the Union. Two years ago the voters passed two "State Questions" which have recently, finally resulted in actual legislation, signed by our Republican Governor, which start to enact some of the local level criminal justice reform this article talks about. Over-zealous, "law and order" prosecutors and judges, with Draconian sentencing guidelines, are a big part of the problem. Fortunately we are finally on a path toward fixing this. Thank God.
11
White -- Black. "Us" -- "Them". "Us" elects the DA; "Them" going to jail is how he gets reelected.
5
Leonhart is misrepresenting this case. He is committing something akin to malpractice. The Innocence Project is notorious for misrepresenting cases as well. Inexplicably large percentages of their acquittals are for gang rape murders where there is plenty of evidence tying a defendant or defendants to the crime though there is no DNA. The causes for acquittal provided by the Innocence Project are often just lies. And many are false acquittals, especially with the partner or gang assaults. Grotesquely, people like the author here help re-victimize the real victims of real offenders by peddling dishonest garbage like this article. David, you are a liar.
3
...and what did y'all expect in Mississippi?
4
The huge prison population in the USA and relatively large prisoner numbers in the UK appear to be higher than the average European prisoner to population ratio. UK and USA both have privatively run prisons unlike the the Continental European countries. Could this factor be exerting influnce on the judiciary approach towards imprisoning offenders that otherwise could be handled through other means.
3
All of this is so infuriating and I am but in the comfort of my home while Curtis Flowers languishes on Death Row.
All of these white prosecutors emerging in these stories seem to be cut of the same cloth, full of hatred toward what is not like them, afraid of a hell (as they describe it and want to protect us from) of their own making. All due to ignorance and pre-conceived notions that were never challenged in their vicious circle of friends.
They all will eventually be shunned by their own progeny as we, ourselves, try to become better.
These little men and their nihilistic ideas, full of spite, will be steamrolled by the march of history.
You can rewrite all kinds of things but anything that does not embody the equality of all human beings will have NO time-value associated with them.
These angry men will stand in history as piles of manure that charitable people will circumvent but will maintain as embodiments of idiocy and sheer meanness.
35
White Americans need to dig deeper into their souls. If you're a church-going devout white Southern Baptist like Douglas Evans, a deeply committed family man like Mr Evans, all this according to his official website page, then you need to pray to God for forgiveness for the wrongs that white America has done to black Americans, for the evil of slavery in the USA, the effects of which white America continues to perpetuate to this day.
Why does a Mississippi white man like Doug Evans need to retry a black man six times for murder? Because if he didn't, Evans believes he would not be re-elected.
Why would a white man like Evans not be re-elected? Because the white electorate of the State of Mississippi would reject him if Evans did not secure the conviction of a black man for the murders that took place that ghastly day.
All white Americans are complicit in this. If you're a white American and you're not posting your outrage on the Facebook page of the Governor of the State of Mississippi then you're complicit. If we don't recognise that discrimination against black men, women and children is more important than the metoo movement then we're complicit.
If I say, well I'm not a racist, so I don't need to do anything, then I'm complicit.
46
Once more Blacks are allowed to vote, prosecutors such as Doug Evans will not be positions that allow them to pursue mindless racism under the guide of Justice.
And allow is the right word for the States of Mississippi and Alabama despite the Voter Rights Act. Old White Republicans are doing all that they can to disallow Black voters so that they ruling class can keep "their way of life (racism)".
4
I
"even though no gun, fingerprints or other physical evidence ties Flowers to the crime "
Other news sources contradict this, and say that the gun used in the murders was found and that it belongs to one of Mr. Flowers' family members, an uncle.
5
Obscene, just obscene. n
Notwithstanding the Civil War and the Voting Rights Act and other examples of civil rights legislation, we still have a long way to go. These days we are going backwards.
2
It’s even worse than this man’s story. Prosecutors wield outrageous penalties to coerce innocence’s to plea bargain. Eye witness testimony is proven to be almost worthless. False memories are easily created by ruthless detectives. And plenty of non-black people suffer but aren’t reported so whites erroneously believe they are immune. Not to mention how hellish prisons are seen as retribution. Ignorance reigns.
5
Another reason why we cannot have the death penalty. You cannot "un-kill" someone when evidence that the prosecution hide for decades appears. Besides that, sitting in solitary confinement for decades is a worse punishment than death. The UN considers it torture and it is 100% torture.
6
This is why a free press, newspapers, media, is so great.
Now Mr. Evans can see what it is like to be “on trial”, at least in the national media. Not a good time to be portrayed, or exposed, as being this way.
10
"When future generations look back on our era, I expect they will ask a similar question. They will be outraged that we forcibly confined a couple million of our fellow human beings to cages, often for no good reason."
Confined in cages is the 21st century version of three centuries of slavery and a final century of Jim Crow.
In fact, its worse as a cage is ultimately confining and removing all rights.
And the hard right continues to claim racism has ended in America, and its really the white men being discriminated against now.
Disgusting.
2
To All Black Americans: Don't Quit... Don't Give Up... Don't Despair... There will be a day of reckoning... your mule and 40 acres will be delivered... just a bit late.
1
While this is likely a gross and deliberate miscarriage of justice, engineered by this Evans character, there is also something else going on within the corrupt justice system in the United States, and that is the fact that for-profit prisons are proliferating throughout our nation, brought into being by corrupt senators who receive major dollar donations from the publicly traded corporations which own these prisons.
These publicly traded corporations depend on one core factor to keep their shareholders happy, stock appreciation, and of course such cannot occur unless occupancy rates are kept as a low as possible, just as in any other business one must sell the product to maintain and increase value, the product in this instance being the available bed, essentially the same as any profitable hotel chain.
So what we have here is collusion, open in your face collusion between government and publicly traded corporations to keep these prisons full to overflowing.
During the presidential campaign, it became known that one of the major contributors to the Clinton campaign was a pac which owned large tranches of stock in one or more of these for-profit prison corporations.
Incidentally this is one reason, possibly the top reason, why we have the highest prison population in the world, north of 2 million souls, many of whom are in for non-violent crimes such as drug possession and petty robbery.
11
It is pretty clear that this prosecutor Evans must win his case. This should not be the goal of any prosecutor for whom equal justice under the law must be primary. Didn't he promise to uphold the Constitution when he took office? This prosecution is a travesty.
7
What is wrong with a system that allows prosecutors to be immune from the law? It is well past time that these criminal prosecutors be charged and do jail time.
Not to mention that the actual killer is still on the street. If that person commits another crime the prosecutor should also be charged with aiding and abetting those crimes.
20
Perhaps Evans needs to be incarcerated.
17
"And the costs are borne overwhelmingly by black men, like Flowers."
...and we also should add the costs are also borne by the tax payer. Evans unjust prosecutions cost the state money, a lot of money.
We need strong laws to criminalize flagrant violations of prosecutorial malfeasance. Not just jail time for wrongful convictions but reimbursement of costs plus fines.
14
“Most prosecutors, after all, are decent, ethical public servants.” We don’t be need years to look back at this and say how wrong you were.
9
Most states have no real mechanism to deter prosecutorial misconduct. Unscrupulous prosecutors are immune from lawsuits by their victims and, unlike judges, are not subject to impartial professional oversight either. At least in NY state, legislation is pending that could change that. Sadly it has not been endorsed by even one district attorney.
15
A clear description of a travesty of justice, which is also a caveat, if it’s contents is accurate.Occurring in a paradoxical democracy in which a prosecutor is enabled to undermine the menschlich-meanings of law,justice,truth, ethics,civility,trust, respect,evidence, facts and even TRUTH.And his fellow officers,elected, selected, or whatever, of a justice system, complacently, or otherwise, as well as the population at large are complicit.As they were for decades as languishing -laws “allowed” lynchings,and ticketless-public
“Performances” of tradition-bound violating of a less-than-human created “the other.”This article’s content reminds all of US that a toxic, infectious culture is sustained, by ALL, in which personal responsibility for voicing harmful words and carrying out horrendous deeds, including torture and even institutionalized-death, remains as a norm. A socio-political, entrenched value of and by many. In our daily created and maintained WE-THEY discriminating, dehumanizing, excluding, violating- world.There is a need for an other article. Help US to learn-know-understand what makes it possible for “criminals- against -menschlichkeit to operate within the law, and its humane-judicious legacies. Traditions.What are our options, as individuals as well as partnering with others, locally to nationally, to making sustainable needed changes? Evans, a toxic state, infects a critical legal foundation of civilized society.He needs to be isolated. Removed!How?
2
While the Flowers case could hardly be the "worst case of racial discrimination (the Ms Supreme Ct) has ever seen" let us at least point out that the highest State court is leaning toward justice. What the Supreme Court should have done is prevent the endless re-trials. Yes, some vestiges of it's past remain in Mississippi, but there are pathways to betterment that need to be taken.
4
I don't know if Flowers is guilty or innocent. I don't know if there was evidence that was not allowed to be used at the trial that convinced Evans that Flowers had shot 4 people.
Maybe Evans is a crazed prosecutor who will do anything to convict an innocent man, including stacking the jury.
But maybe he also knows something we don't.
If Flowers is innocent, he should go free, plain and simple. And if Evans is on some crazy vendetta, like the prosecutors in the Duke lacrosse case, he should be punished like they were.
But I don't think we or this columnist can decide Flowers is automatically innocent either.
5
The question is not whether he is innocent. He is presumed innocent. The prosecution must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
8
No one doubts that the Flowers case raises legitimate questions and concerns. However, Mr. Leonhart provides us with a glimpse into his own thinking and biases by describing those who cooperate with law enforcement as "snitches"; a term frequently trotted-out by the defense at mob trials as they seek to convince us that anyone who cooperates is somehow tainted by the childish expression snitches get stiches". Unfortunately, to often we're incapable of protecting those who may choose to do the right thing and which may secure a measure of leniency for themselves
3
This is an incompetently-written article, perhaps not even belonging in the Times. Leonhardt doesn't want to rehash the case, telling readers to instead have recourse to some kind of documentary. I do not read the Times, nor articles printed in it, to be told to go elsewhere for elucidation. Leonhardt gives certain types of evidence that is lacking in this case, but he does not address the reason(s) four separate juries found Flowers guilty. Did they just decide as a body that there was nothing to convict him on but to convict him anyway. Within reason, what was their reasoning? Leonhardt should have at least addressed that. Not having done so, the article appears as nothing more than fodder to support the writer's obvious agenda - that there are too many people in prison. He may be right, but this article, as written, is nothing more than a nicely written diatribe.
8
You apparently lack human empathy. Put yourself in the shoes of this man. Better yet, download and listen to the podcast that is referenced. The full story would fill a book or two.
I’m grateful that the NYTimes brings important issues like this to our attention.
17
This family has earned the right to a go fund me page. The NY Times deserve kudos for its editorials/articles on how the criminal justice can cause the prosecution, incarceration & execution of innocent individuals. Whether legal service is free or paid by the accused, doesn’t guarantee the accused will receive appropriate representation. The accused & victim families will suffer irreparable damage, while taxpayers get stuck with the bill. Successful convictions can catapult a nobody prosecutor into elected stardom.
One wonders how many jurors are aware that lying testimony by police or inmate snitches & withholding evidence are done to convict individuals whom either the prosecutor or police believe are guilty? Do jurors realize that crime scene photos are shown during murder trials to influence the jurors' emotion & thereby get a guilty finding? Many times people are convicted because the jurors conclude that the accused is a bad person, deserving of punishment or who must be guilty of something. Not one of those conclusions are supported by real, incontrovertible evidence. Its almost as if all potential jurors must be provided with some sort of basic education that explains what is real evidence, what may be manipulated & what their duty will be given possible evidence seen.
I would hope that the Appeals Court in this case will rule that this man needs to be set free because of the prosecutor’s misconduct.
10
Agree with the author's points about the criminal justice system, but object to his use of the term snitch. It's used to silence people and keep communities in fear. Use something, anything, else please.
2
Can anyone cite to a situation like this involving a white man? I didn't think so...
9
There are some white men with more than 4 trials for murder out there.
Calvin Harris
Steven M. Tielsch... I stopped looking after 15 seconds.
Your point is absolutely valid. But it can/does happen. This more about the lack of accountability for DAs than defendant color. But just barely.
7
"At each of the first three trials, Flowers was convicted, but the Mississippi Supreme Court threw out all three convictions. The first two times, it cited misconduct by Evans during the trial, and the third time it found that Evans had kept African-Americans off the jury. The justices called it as bad a case of such racial discrimination “as we have ever seen.”
Evans should be disbarred for life. Take his license away to practice law. Winning is the issue no matter the cost. If he is an elected official he should be voted out of office. Republicans, drain the swamp in November. The swamp is everywhere and getting bigger. These people feel emboldened by the guy in the White House.
131
I'd take it one step further. Evans has stolen 22 years of Flowers's life, so why shouldn't he pay for this with an equal amount of his own worthless life, ideally in solitary confinement on death row?
10
At the risk of being very un-PC, at some stage people need to realize that the only way to achieve justice is outside the law. If we wait until maybe, eventually he is released maybe in his sixties, his life would have already effectively be over. If however, measure beyond the law secure his immediate release, hec can still maybe have a life. In my opinion, this is a case where the end justifies the means, any means, including violence.
1
Why can't prosecutors be prosecuted for misconduct? Who does it serve for them not to be prosecuted? If they put the wrong person in jail that means the rest of us are all less safe because the true criminal or criminals are still free to commit other crimes.
14
I think the biggest problem with our criminal court systems right now are that they have mostly destroyed the rules of evidence in state cases, to the point where prosecutors can put into evidence just about anything, but defense attorneys still have to follow the old rules. Couple that with the fact that too few judges are willing to grant directed verdicts in cases in which no reasonable juror could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and you have a system where just being charged with a crime almost ensures that one will be convicted, unless the person is rich or famous.
8
Not true
It might be interesting to see if pressure could be applied via municipal bonds. If bond holders, especially bond funds refused to hold bonds for the counties served by the fifth district court (Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Grenada, Montgomery, Webster, and Winston counties) due to the potential liability of civil torts resulting from this case, it might be easier to get Doug Evans replaced. The price for injustice should be raised.
3
Prosecutor??? No, Persecutor. Shame on you, Mississippi. Trying to sink lower than Kansas. Hallelujah.
14
If the government had the opportunity to try anyone, and for them to be without the means to afford council. And to be of limited education. Kick in an IQ below 100. A minority.
Give them six chances and most would be on death row.
There for the grace of the Flying Spaghetti Monster go us.
2
What is wrong in the US?
Deranged, young white mass murders
So many black men in jail....
“Educated” leaders who look away
8
Indeed, an Alabamian AG and a proven, bigoted prez will solve all this. All will surely be well...
5
Just disgusting! Racism imbedded everywhere in our laughable democracy. We are the lowest of the low; truly. We have been completely and utterly been taken down morally as a Country. We must awaken and right these wrongs. Utilizing the “Justice” system to create and perpetuate such grave injustices must stop! Just disgusting! VOTE! RESIST!!!!
7
Speaking of vendettas, David Leonhardt, how about the vendetta in North Carolina against Robeson County Native American Eddie Hatcher? (I taught journalism at UNCPembroke when Eddie was a student there, I knew Eddie, I went to his trial, I visited him prison, I knew his mother and sister, I wrote a piece about this travesty; he died in prison, of AIDs more or less.) Because Eddie worked to clean up the thriving illegal drug trade in Robeson, which included corrupt law enforcement, and he was gay, the entire State of NC colluded against him in his kangaroo trial. Check it out.)
4
The modern way of lynching.
8
I have visited 46 of 50 states, slept a night in each of these at least once. I tried hard to avoid going to Mississippi, but had to for work. I slept, did my job and "got the hell out of Dodge" as fast as I could. Each time I look at the cost of living in these southern states and think that I may retire there, I come to my senses and say I'd rather pay high taxes and roll the judicial dice in the north, than run the risk of this happening. Sure the odds are low, but why risk it. The voters of the county or whatever jurisdiction DA Evans is elected from need to fix this right away. Otherwise they share equally the shame and disgrace.
6
Just keep these criminals in jail. If you want to do something for real David, go to Chicago and disarm the gangs.
Looking at the cell on death row: none of us would put a dog in that cell, let alone a man.
12
This is insane!!! How can our justice system destroy these men life?
22 years in jail and Curtis has not been convicted? Why is he in jail?
What can we do to free Curtis?
I am deeply saddened and in disbelief that we imprison people who were not convicted. Worse yet, we subject prisoners to subhuman conditions.
This is deplorable.
How can we help Curtis?
5
Meanwhile the murderer is sitting back laughing, and the victim's families are crying. Justice? Politics.
4
I recommend reading The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist by Radley Balko and Tucker Barrington for another story of Mississippi 'justice'.
5
Our prosecutors are entirely above our laws including premeditated murder and they cannot be prosecuted that NEEDS TO CHANGE NOW they are corrupt and vile and should be locked up they are the bad guys.
8
NY Times (or ABA?) ought to report on prosecutorial integrity, by state. How many disreputable ones are there in this country? Dozens? Hundreds?
8
These articles alleging false imprisonment seem timed to be the NYT's contribution to the prison reform debate. To those interested in these cases, I urge reading, "Just Mercy", by Bryan Stephenson.
2
Thank you for this OpEd.
4
I was shocked to see that now, at 2:20 p. m. CET, there are only 15 comments to this cruel and heartbreaking report. Could it be that the fate of Curtis Flowers means kind of nothing to the readers of the NYT?
I expected rather a flood of protests and charges of the public opinion. Didn't this happen because the inmate is black? Or are readers pondering: what can you do when this happens in the state of Mississippi?
Or is this prosecutor Doug Evans a holy appearance you have no chance to channel a loud protest? America is sometimes a strange, strange country for an European. Sorry to mention this.
4
It is very disturbing to me that such blatant efforts to convict an apparently innocent man continue. Don't judges and prosecutors receive training in how to avoid being prejudicial? How can the prosecution legally hide evidence from the defense, and how can a judge allow it?
This is bigotry and corruption, plain and simple.
65
This is Mississippi. They are notorious for treating black people unfairly since time immemorial. Look at the lynchings. Look at the poll tax. Look at the % of black people in jail. The list goes on and on. That is the reality. It is sickening when you really think about it.
12
I'm shocked, shocked to learn that there is bigotry and corruption in this country!
5
True justice would see Mr. Flowers freed, and the corrupt, anti-American prosecutor jailed for the rest of his natural life.
10
You would think after all these years, Mississippi and all the other Confederate states would finally accept that African Americans and other minorities have equal rights under the law.
I can only imagine the progress this country could have made if we didn’t have the millstone of the South weighing us down. Personally, as gay man, I try to spend as little time in the South, too much bigotry, racism and religious fanaticism for my taste.
9
Things won't change until people like Doug Evans lose their immunity from prosecutorial misconduct. It's Evans rather than Mr. Flowers who should be sitting in a prison cell.
12
Such a miscarriage of justice. Convict at any cost. Prosecutorial misconduct and abuse of power.
3
Unbelievable. Questions arise: Why was Mr. Flowers not released when the three convictions were overturned? Why is Evans still on the job, when the Mississippi Supreme Court cited misconduct by him during the trials, that he had kept African-Americans off the jury, and stated that he prosecuted "as abad a case of such racial discrimination 'as (they) have ever seen"? Why is the case still being tried after that condemnation, and on "dubious circumstantial evidence"? Incredible, and if true - unconscionable.
11
Another example among many of the fact that the American criminal justice system is not competent to impose the death penalty.
8
I suppose that there is no chance of a Presidential pardon being offered anytime soon then?
3
This is what happens when you have a system whereby District Attorneys, Judges and Sheriffs are elected rather than being appointed within a professionalized system that has checks/balances. Sheriff "Joe" of AZ comes to mind.
8
Why is this prosecutor still in office? Seems to me, at worst, he should be fired?
2
And who will prosecute the prosecutor?
2
Perhaps there needs to be a "snitch" law, whereby any plea deal negotiated by prosecutors applies regardless of what the snitch says on the stand. However, if hie is caught lying, his sentence is doubled. That way, there is less incentive by a snitch to lie and prosecutors are deprived of a one-sided instrument.
This is a horror story that should give us all pause. It's not surprising that such a miscarriage of justice should happen in Mississippi, which bears a frightening resemblance to many third-world countries. However, if you don't live here, don't feel smug. The whole country is sliding down the muddy path to perdition, so let's not be so arrogant as the whole world watches and laughs.
2
Whatever happened to the notion of 'double jeopardy'? Isn't it fundamentally illegal (never mind unethical and immoral) to try a person more than once for the same crime?
6
Is it absolutely true that prosecutors are routinely arrogant and even reckless? And that we should never elect them to any other office (whether Spitzer, Giuliani, Chris Christie or whomever?)
3
There's a second malfeasance happening in these cases where a person who is almost certainly not the perpetrator of the crime is relentlessly pursued for a conviction.
The real killers are escaping. They're merging back into society, possibly bragging to closes associates about "getting away with it." How many times do citizens encounter these people on the streets, or at work and never know who they are dealing with?
So not only does racial profiling continue to exacerbate a primal injustice in our country - it actively serves to make society less safe.
47
Except he is the killer. Why don’t you look at the evidence.
2
What evidence? Does the article not say something?
1
There has always been a strong propaganda apparatus running in the USA, an apparatus telling you that you are the land of the free, home of the brave, leaders of the free world and torch bearers for democracy.
Trump is forcing you many of you to take a good look at your country, a country that has many deep flaws. That is the good part of his presidency.
But many of you will not reflect upon the current State of the Union. It's much more comfortable to look away from the ugly. That is a weak side of humanity.
5
And after 6 trials, not once did a jury vote not guilty. One has to wonder why that is.
There is another way to tell this story. 4 men were murdered in cold blood in Mississippi. Curtis Flowers was convicted of the murders four times. The men had recently fired him and powder from the murder weapon was on his hands.
An incompetent and racist prosecutor repeatedly mishandled the case, much to the distress of the victims’ families. But this is not the first time that prosecutors tripped over themselves. Most notably, it took multiple trials to convict l Gotti, the Teflon Don. The lesson to be learned is that guilt is based on a fair assessment of the facts. Just because a prosecutor is repeatedly incompetent, doesn’t mean the accused is innocent. And if it takes multiple trials, it is nonetheless worth it. 4 men murdered and the murderer at large. That is an injustice of the first order.
19
gun residue on his hand is hardly convincing evidence in a country were every tom dick and harry has a gun. " no gun, fingerprints or other physical evidence ties Flowers to the crime and no witness even puts him at the store that day."
26
Thank you for pointing this out, Roy. I grew up in a rural area and prior to moving to NY in my 20s I probably had gun residue on my hands once a week minimum. If that constitutes sufficient evidence to convict someone of a crime I would have been doing hard time by the age of nine.
5
I just read the whole thing, and it said the gun was never found. So just how does gunpowder from a non-existent gun get on the hands of a guilty (by coercion and misapplication of "justice") man become suddenly a "fact-like" specter? I smell a trump-truth, here.
11
Apparently the prosecutor believes that in charging black citizens the prosecutor should not fail, he should try, try again. The US Department of Justice was created after the Civil War to help ensure justice for former slaves in the south where trial and error were the same thing.
Does this prosecutor look to pardoned Sheriff Joe and the failed Alabama judge for advice?
3
I'm surprised that in the USA the prosecution can withhold evidence from the defence. How did this, er, custom become established? It seems to me utterly at odds with the concept of a fair trail, as it gives the prosecution an unfair advantage.
22
It's not legal in the US, but it happens. If it comes to light, it's grounds for reversing a conviction.
10
The worst part, aside from defendants not receiving a fair trial, is that prosecutors rarely, if ever, face any kind of sanction afterward.
Instead they're free to repeat their abhorrent conduct.
10
Thanks, confirms my impression that ful disclosure is a fundamental principle of common-law based trial practice.
Unfortunate reality is that now after more than two decades of wrongful imprisonment, the State is even less likely to exonerate due to the amount of payout Flowers would be entitled to.
21
Where is the accountability for police who shoot unarmed people and prosecutors who extort false confessions and prosecute innocent people?
33
A mechanism at the Federal level needs to be put in place to hold local prosecutors accountable for abuses of their office.
The flip side of this overzealous and unethical prosecution of innocent African-American men is the refusal by these public servants to prosecute their fellow law enforcement civil servants, the police, when they kill. The victims, of course, are always from the very same community targeted by prosecutors.
Staten Island District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan, Jr.'s behavior with the Eric Garner grand jury was so egregiously biased it did permanent damage to the credibility of that office.
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez waited over a year to bring charges against Laquan McDonald's killer and then only did so a few hours before the court ordered release of the video she'd seen a few weeks after the murder.
20
Cases like this ensure “US justice” remains an oxymoron- and people look at USA as a medieval empire.
25
By switchingDoug Evans with Curtis Flowers America will significantly raise it's judicial status.
I mean, after six trials Curtis must have developed deep knowledge with the judicial language, making him far more suitable for the role than assumed by Doug.
...and Doug does of course earn jail time for grossly wasting taxpayers money.
That's my verdict.
18
The Judge Dee Chinese detective series has the prosecutor as judge, jury, and executor. But there is a qualifier. If he is shown wrong he is executed!
Maybe Mississippi and Louisiana and some other states need to institute such a role for the kill the poor, the black, and the unwelcome, prosecutors who seem to be running for being a future governor, senator, or president.
6
Many in minority communities distrust the police and the justice system. The result is that many crimes go unsolved because of lack of assistance by the community, and willingness to testify.
Justice must be fair to earn the support of any community.
Where it is not fair, we rely on the media , an unfair burden placed on the media.
36
Yet another example of American exceptionalism
13
Thank you for bringing Curtis Flowers to my attention. It’s disgraceful. However, you write “...it is all too typical in its broad strokes.” How do you know that? Where are t he numbers to show that?
3
Twenty two years later the real killer is still free.
12
Almost 300 years ago, Blackstone commented on the bedrock principle of English Common Law:
"It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer"
Modern political realities -- the need to convict in order to retain your job as prosecutor -- have turned that axiom on its head. Beyond the immorality and injustice of presuming guilt, it has a dangerous side as well. That is, the police stop searching for the actual perpetrator, leaving him or her to commit further crimes.
20
Although I fully understand how and why this kind of injustice occurs I don't understand why sharp legal minds can't come up with more direct, dramatic ways to attack this problem. E.g., why does this obviously corrupt prosecuting attorney seem to be impervious to public and/or legal scrutiny? I would suggest that the Flowers family could well sue this scoundrel over and over. While this may be difficult or impossible to do in the local courts there in Mississippi surely there are people who could expose him to public criticism through legal actions and public information campaigns. Make his life a little more uncomfortable or even intolerable through censure, criticism and demonstrations and perhaps he may start trying to find ways to make the justice system work more fairly on his watch! In fact, I would even suggest hiring able investigators to look into his public AND his private life with the goal of finding dirt that he may be trying keep from public knowledge. Drag his ignorance and bad acts out into public glare and maybe he'll discover reality for the first time in his life?
78
Mississippi.
14
Although trying a defendant 6 times is probably a record, you would think a smart prosecutor would quit after 2 times. Especially a case with no evidence.
I'm convinced police and prosecutors are on quota, and a few places commission.
9
Forgive me for asking the obvious, but isn’t this unconstitutional under the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment?
11
No, because the first 3 convictions were thrown out, removing them from the official record. Numbers 4 and 5 were hung juries, so they did not count either. Number 6 was a conviction, and that was the first one to be official until and unless it is overturned on appeal, in which case there might be #7. Had he been found not guilty in any of the trials, then double jeopardy would prevent a retrial.
9
The first three convictions were 'thrown out' on appeal. I am not familiar with the details of this case. But the current reading of The Constitution allows re-trials following a defendant's successful appeal if courts to overturn convictions and order a new trial. In effect, this allows the original trial to be treated as though it never happened.
Likewise, courts can dismiss verdicts 'without prejudice' (which allows the prosecution to retry the case if they wish). Verdicts can also be dismissed 'with prejudice' meaning the defendant cannot be tried again on the state charges that were brought in the original trial.
Finally, it is possible that the prosecutor did not charge the defendant with all of the capital charges available to him. Conviction on a single capital charge would result in the death penalty. Trying the defendant on only one homicide would subject only one victim's family to the full trauma of a murder trial. It would be a simpler trial to manage and to present. And, if the case is weak, as it is in this case, it would allow the prosecution repeated shots at the defendant.
3
When convictions are overturned on appeal due to errors at trial, they are generally returned to the lower court - where the prosecutor chooses whether to re-try the case. That has happened multiple times in this case. Similarly, a hung jury doesn't count as a completed trial either, so double jeopardy does not attach; again, in that case, it's up to the prosecutor to decide whether to re-try.
1
Curtis Flowers remains a prisoner because it's the American system of justice for people of color. The mindset produced a president who polled 36-million votes. Prosecutors like Doug Evans just don't materialize from thin air. They're products of their environments. They're as American as apple pie.
The for-profit prison system should be an affront to any concept of human dignity. Yet that is precisely the yellow gold on the target that the Right want made a permanent and lasting part of American "life." They see crime in the shadows everywhere: a black man selling a cigarette on a street corner; he's choked to death for his pains. In New York City.
The regressive and discriminatory agenda as rolled out by President Donald Trump--and avidly, greedily, implemented by his Attorney General, Jefferson Davis Beauregard Sessions III--is a blatantly racist appeal to others who yearn for a time when prosecutorial conduct like that practiced by Mr. Evans was just a day's work.
But more is at work here. There are white youths and white men who are imprisoned on scanty evidence, too. One might think that they would be immune to the law's long reach. But these folks are poor; the system is rigged for the wealthy. "Stick the poor in jail," they say. "There's always more where they came from." Can anyone truly calculate the cost to society or to families for these injustices?
There are other repressive countries around the globe with far more leniency in their criminal codes than ours.
38
Hmm, so Trump wants to give a posthumous pardon to a boxer on the advice of Sly Stallone while someone who is clearly innocent, like Curtis Flowers, languishes in prison?
15
Sadly, there aren't enough NY Times columnists such as Messrs. Leonhart and Kristof to bring all these cases to national attention. We can only hope that state supreme courts continue to practice sound judgement, that families of the accused can afford to fight for their loved ones, and that lawyers with a conscience donate their time and energy to these victims.
The broader question is how do we root out injustice from our system? How do we rid ourselves of the few(?) unethical prosecutors and/or law enforcers who shade the evidence and the truth?
5
A young prosecutor once proudly told me that he had won ninety-eight percent of his cases. He then lamented the ones he lost. I replied that he was supposed to loose some cases. Why? he asked. My reply - because some people are innocent.
28
The daughter of one of the victims is someone I went to college with. She is absolutely convinced that Flowers is guilty and wants him executed. I'm not sure what to think.
1
On what basis is she 'absolutely convinced'? And why should her belief influence your conclusion ... her belief is not evidence.
3
Guiltily or innocent seems irrelevant. On what evidence was he convicted ? Is he getting a fair hearing?
3
This is Kafka-esque. So the prosecutor just gets to keep putting him on trial until he gets a conviction? And where does a poor state like Mississippi get the money to allow a prosecutor to do this?
12
People with authority manage to find money for things they want badly enough, like stadiums and retrials.
2
Or an acquittal, in which case he would have to stop. A mistrial just means you get another chance to do it right.
2
Even if most prosecutors have a conscience, the knowledge of right from wrong, all it takes to foul the soup is one rotten egg. Case in point here? It sure smells like one.
2
This type of scenario is exactly what the president wanted to return to, an ugly distant past in America where white was right. A white prosecutor is determined to punish a black man even though DNA and fingerprints never tied him to the scene. The prosecutor struck out six times but in Mississippi all bets for equal justice under the law are off.
If Curtis Flowers were guilty, the case would have been closed and he would have been a free man. But no, this prosecutor isn’t having any of it. After over twenty years of spinning his wheels, Doug Evans isn’t after justice, he wants personal revenge. Sometimes crimes are committed and the guilty go free, which is regrettable. But in this case, this is a legal lynching.
Nearly 63 years ago in Mississippi, Emmett Till was kidnapped and murdered because his accuser lied about what the boy was supposed to have said. Mr. Flowers, by all accounts, is innocent of the crimes for which he is said to have committed. Emmett Till was a black boy and Curtis Flowers is a black man, but in Mississippi their color is still a crime today, justice notwithstanding.
9
"As the legal scholar Michelle Alexander has noted, a larger share of black Americans are imprisoned than black South Africans were during apartheid."
Thank you for that perspective. It is our long standing practice of ignoring, or just being unaware of, such reality that leads to a president Trump and worse.
20
Perhaps one solution is to mandate that if a case is reversed on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct, the prosecutor who engaged in the misconduct should be recused from retrying the case.
We might even want to take that a step further and require the recusal of the trying prosecutor on any case that is reversed by a higher court.
These recusals will assure that the prosecutor guilty of misconduct will not have a second opportunity to taint the trial of an accused, and would require a fresh set of eyes and legal talent to make the case for the state, thereby decreasing the chances of the prosecution using unacceptable tactics.
67
An excellent idea in the big cities or on a state level. The problem is the fact that in many smaller jurisdictions, there is only one prosecutor.
6
Then, bring in another prosecuting attorney. Happens all the time; the county's prosecuting attorney may be related to a given defendant, or otherwise temporarily unable to serve. This circumstance seems a very clear case for recusing the original prosecuting attorney.
1
If a case is reversed on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct then the offending prosecutor should be required to serve out the defendant's sentence until a retrial determines an appropriate verdict, free of the misconduct.
Prosecutorial misconduct is a crime and the punishment is obvious.
I keep writing in NYT comments how the deterioration of of our basic financial interactions are the the root of our present problems, every economic exchange has become an exercise in having to agree to be charged an extra fee or corrupt penalty to some far of entity, from banks to health insurance to utilities charging extra to make an electric payment even though it saves them money to redlining to etc.....
But, maybe the judicial process is the core where we have denigrated democracy and lost our belief in each other and our institutions.
When the slightest of slights, real or imaginary, has been the subject of a lawsuit that must be defended, why are you so surprised that these contracts are so lengthy, complicated, and unnecessarily opaque?
The justice system is a shield to protect The People. Unfortunately, it has also become a sword for those out for revenge or just bored with their lives.
It is refreshing that some judges at the federal district level are beginning to see the frivolousness of some of the civil matters that are being filed and dismissing them with somewhat scathing critiques of the plaintiff and the plaintiff's motives.
4
Strange country where innocent people can be executed, weapons are free available, schools are no safe places, the president is 'a Trump' (new word that includes all vices possible) and all of this is accepted by a majority of voters. Strange democracy where judges are politically nominated, where the president wants to inquire the FBI for personal motives, where Koch brothers and others can buy the president they prefere, where racial biases are not eradicated, where a riffle association that represents only a minority of the inhabitants of that country, is so influential.
And we, who do not live in that strange country, are always told that that country is a beacon of freedom and democracy. Sounds a bit absurd these days...
104
Seems people have the freedom to complain without risking imprisonment or worse as in many other countries. Making changes to the system is much more difficult as money plays a huge role in politics.
2
he did't win a majority of the voters.
9
Many, many Americans agree with you. I, for one, thank you for your legitimate criticism of what this once great nation has become in recent years. We need to know that others are watching and legitimately judging where their interests lay when contemplating cooperating or coordinating with the USA.
During a Trump presidency the USA is not a trustworthy ally nor a dependable friend. Americans need to play this out according to our own rules or risk collapse of the rule of law...please be patient with America's citizens. But don't trust our government...we don't.
4
Thanks for bringing this obvious miscarriage of justice to everyone's attention. Now Mr. Flowers may get the attention he deserves.
As to the president and his AG. We will just have to live through this abomination of an administration and resist in all and anyway we can.
6
I think the biggest single reform for this abuse, would be to punish prosecutors who violate the rules to get a conviction. After all, if Mr. Flowers were chained up in Mr. Evans basement for 22 years, we would see it as enslavement and put the perpetrator in jail. Why should rule breaking prosecutors be any different? Aren't they, through their malicious prosecutions, robbing potentially innocent people of their freedom?
As an aside, the late great Tom Wolfe, said, "If a conservative is a liberal who has been robbed, then a liberal is a conservative whose been arrested." The Duke lacrosse players case is a perfect example. And just where is the prosecutor in that case today? Unfortunately, how we view the criminal justice system is too much yanny vs. laurel.
14
Once you privatize something that should be public, whether prisons, education, or water supply, you are inviting all the horrible issues Capitalism brings with it by putting profit ahead of human welfare--this is an intrinsic characteristic of Capitalism. Privatizing public services is how politicians dole out favors in the form of contracts to their corporate friends/family/sponsors and must be stopped.
21
“a jury of peers” can mean nothing other than socioeconomic ‘peers’, perhaps even ‘race’. OR at least 50% of the jurors.
prosecutors MUST suffer a punishment at least the same as the unjustified incarcration. The Evans fellow needs to sentenced to 44 years!
Finally - district attorneys should not be ‘elected’
13
While I agree with the general themes propagated in this article— the desperate, need for prison reform, the unbridled sanctity of a fair trial, and the absolute requirement that prosecutors be of the highest ethical caliber—I don’t know why the NYTimes thinks it’s most wise to expend its political capital on heinous killers.
Certainly, even the worst among us are deserving of each and every constitutional protection, but for the sake of advancing the noble mission of justice reform there are genuinely innocent people whose cases are far more compelling. I would encourage any reader to also review the Kevin Cooper article in which Mr. Kristoff rather disingenuously omitted key evidence against the convicted murderer, while being unreasonably dismissive of hard core facts that were incompatible with his narrative.
https://www.cjlf.org/deathpenalty/CooperReview.htm
4
Read his article. Please supply what evidence was omitted.
5
Kristoff's? I did. If you read the link I cited it is readily apparent. For some of the omissions: that the station wagon which had the assailant's hair in it was found on the way to Mexico...where he was later found (not out of the way). In addition, the weapons used in the murder were missing from the house...where he was staying. Also, the chemical which was found on the shirt, which he links to a test tube, is commonly used with clothes. In addition, his criminal record includes a number of burglaries (this could have easily been a burglary gone wrong). And, the woman he assaulted was during a failed burglary-- similar to the crime at issue. Finally, while on the run, he was accused of assaulting people he was staying with, going to state of mind.
"One change involves 'open-file' policies, which give the defense attorney access to all of the evidence in a case. That may seem like an obvious step, and it’s the norm in civil trials. Yet it remains rare in criminal trials."
Given the huge disparities in resources available to the state, working with public funds and personnel and the accused, working with far lesser resources. "open file" needs to be the rule in criminal cases. not the exception. I would also suggest divorcing the police from the prosecution, but I won't hold my breath for that.
15
Absolutely terrible that something as dubious as this (it took 6 trials!) ends up with a man facing legislated and government condoned murder. I had though in the US that no-one could be tried for the same crime more than once, but I stand corrected. Still, surely after the first 5 trials, there was sufficient cause for doubt.
8
Prosecutors found to engage in willful misconduct in order to put innocent people behind bars should, on proof of such willful misconduct, be required to serve as many years in prison as the poor innocent sole railroaded into jail. Some innocent people have spent decades in jail because the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence from defense lawyers just so their won:loss record notches one in the win column. The ONLY solution is to make these viscous prosecutors think twice before doing such evil by having a few of them talking to their families through wire screens on visiting day while spending the rest of the week folding sheets in the prison laundry for 15 years or so!
12
If we were to have had this sort of rule in place, Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller would still be languishing in jail for his misdeeds that put two innocent men behind bars for murders that they did not commit.
1
The Owl,
I’m not familiar with Mueller ‘s misdeeds. I am talking egregious, willful, fully cognizant misconduct.
A prosecutor who merely “gets it wrong” even through sloppy work, is not what I’m referring to. I just want to clarify that!
Please cite the cases you're referring to.
"Most prosecutors, after all, are decent, ethical public servants."
Well, ALL, prosecutors are dependent on conviction rates to, well, keep their jobs.
As Upton Sinclair said: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it."
Sadly, there are people that would rather let a human being rot in prison, then admit a mistake. These stories are so common, especially in the South, for obvious reasons.
The solution is to have all prosecutions reviewed by committee, rather then a single powerful person with dubious objectives. It also allows the prosecutor off the hook in terms of prosecuting a person on flimsy evidence, when they can say, "The committee did not approve the prosecution."
26
That was supposed to be the purpose of the Grand Jury system, citizens would review evidence as a check on prosecutors. However, that has devolved into a rubber stamp process which as the effect if insulating prosecutors who can blame the grand jury.
1
While there are powerful incentives people will find a way. Requiring prosecutors to disclose payments to snitches is good, but if a prosecutor slips fifty bucks in cash to a snitch, and puts in a word for him with the warden (of a for-profit prison), who's to know?
11
It appears that prosecutors who break the rules get off the hook very easily. Shouldn't there be some punishment to discourage such action?
38
There is...Disbarment.
But how many times has a prosecutor actually been reported to the Bar Association, let alone sanctioned.
Prosecutorial misconduct is one of the most odious crimes that can be committed. It is putting the thumb of the powerful on the scales of justice against the innocent.
15
Key questions here. What have Mr. Flowers attorneys been doing to rectify the situation? Have they challenged the entire course of conduct beyond the case on trial? Have they gone to the District Court on what is painted as a pattern of civil rights violations? Has the DA's misconduct been brought to the attention of the Miss. Bar?
There's a sense that the entire story is not being told.
11
Prosecutors are almost entirely immune from punishment for bad behavior and rarely face discipline for things that would get a defense or civil lawyer disbarred.
11
This piece is not meant to review all the details of the case, but rather to use it as a glaring example of a larger problem. So obviously “the entire story” is not being told. But he mentions on a few occasions the podcast where that story is being told.
2
I guess we have to listen to the podcast for more details of the case. Mr. Leonhardt suggests that.
4
I have always found it strange that the US has a system of elected prosecutors. Academics have established patterns of convergence between prosecutorial zeal and the electoral calendar. "Softness" is seen as a political liability. (Even the unelected Supreme Court Justices are routinely identified by their political affiliations, and they split far too often on those lines.) No system is perfect -- I have seen abuse by Canadian Crown prosecutors-- but would it be too much to think about a justice system that was professional rather than political ? These two cases are truly appalling, and do not belong in a mature democracy.
88
Overly zealous prosecutors are the norm. The greater their "success" in the courtroom, the greater their political "success". It's not hard to see how they would tailor their prosecutions to fit their political aspirations. Witness the zeal of Schneiderman in taking on Trump. He became the darling of progressives until he treated them the way he treats his opponents.
4
What is more alarming is the 'private prison system'. Prisons created to generate profits. Sessions appears to favor privatizing the prisons in the US.
This could easily lead to bribes to prosecutors and judges alike which could be written off as a marketing expense.
Reform is needed badly.
109
There was a notorious case in Pa. where a juvenile court judge sent young offenders to a detention center in which he had a financial interest. At the beginning of the court day, officials already knew how many kids were going to be transported. The great mystery was his flagrant abuse was allowed to go on for years.
16
There was a case in Pennsylvania where a judge was steering juvenile defendants to a facility that was paying kickbacks—whether the kids had done anything or not.
9
During the 1980's and 1990's there were nightly shootouts in the streets of New York and other American cities. Except for a few cities, that violence has ended. I don't know if Mr. Flowers is innocent and I don't doubt that Mr. Evans engaged in prosecutorial misconduct. There is nothing worse that locking up an innocent man. I have no trust in prosecutors. BUT, YOU DON'T THROW OUT THE BABY WITH THE BATH WATER. Criminals must be punished or they will constantly repeat their crimes and others will copy their behavior. America would be a better place if more white collar criminals were locked up but that doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to punish violent or property crimes. Punishment has a legitimate place in the criminal justice system. We don't want to go back to the 4 nightly gun deaths NYC experienced in the 1990's.
9
I don't think anyone is suggesting that criminals not be punished. Putting people in prison with insufficient evidence doesn't help the overall cause of justice since it means actual criminals can get away with crimes while the system contents itself with scapegoats.
I think we can all agree that we want a system that works hard to find out who actually committed the crime rather than blaming some hapless person for it because it's easier.
49
Mr. Green, please read Just Mercy by Bryan Stephenson. Although the commission of a crime, when proven beyond a reasonable doubt, must have legal consequences, the judicial system in this country is shamefully far from equal, and in too many cases works injustice upon poor and minority citizens.
38
You are presenting a strong argument that we should not stop punishing criminals. Why? Nobody is suggesting any such thing.
16
Bryan Stephenson excellent book Just Mercy tells the tale of many such cases and explains how difficult and dangerous the fight for real justice can be. The USA needs to totally rethink the private prison issue and come to understand that incarceration of those with drug use is one of injustice.
79
Yes, Stephenson’s book is excellent. I would also recommend Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow. Both are painful to read, but necessary if we are to really understand the challenging task of making our justice system fair, equitable, and truly color-blind.
The old confederate flag and mentality still is very apparent down south in some places and by some people!
83
Clearly, prosecutor in this case needs to be held accountable. But I won’t hold my breath.
130
Years ago I was defending a client in a death penalty case. The prosecutor tried a co-defendant first. The co-defendant was acquitted. The co-defendant's counsel had used my client's alibi as his defense and was successful.
The prosecutor informed me that he was still going to proceed against my client despite my client's alibi ( a rock solid alibi since my client was on a time-clock at a mom and pop business when the homicide occurred).
I researched the Code of Professional Responsibility and found a case where an attorney had put forth known non-truthful evidence in a trial. That attorney was disciplined with a suspension of his license. I showed the case to the prosecutor, and after he read it,I informed him that I was going to try to have him disciplined by the Ohio Supreme Court. All of a sudden he had a personal issue if he proceeded. After a few days passed, I got a call from the prosecutor informing me he was dismissing my client's case. All it took was putting the Prosecutor's livelihood in jeopardy. Once he was facing possible discipline his attitude changed. Was a possible suspension of his ability to practice worth proceeding against my client for political reasons? Obviously not. Discipline of prosecutors may help stem the tide of wrongful convictions.
29
P.S. My client spent 9 months in jail.
Thank you for writing about this, Mr. Leonhardt. Thank you to -- to the documentary makers. This is the kind of national spotlight that needs to be shined until true justice is served.
113
Capital punishment should be eliminated altogether and in the meantime no one should be put on death row merely having been found guilty only by circumstantial evidence.
Having said that, I would highly recommend the show ''Rectify'' that dealt with this very issue, except for the defendant was released after decades incarcerated, with the prosecutor keeping on the fight , but losing.
In a very real sense, many a prosecutor are acting like judge, jury and executioner ( ultimately ) when they keep on retrying cases such as these.
In fact, they act like it for even bringing the case up at all.
66
Does not double jeopardy apply? Obviously not in the case of a mistrial, but if the state Supreme Court voided the conviction.
30
Double jeopardy would only be applicable if Flowers were acquitted. Overturned convictions and mistrials do not count. One would think three rulings of prosecutorial misconduct would be enough. What's even more galling is that Evans continued to handle the case even after three convictions were overturned. There needs to be a law against rogue prosecutors.
289
This is horrific. Evans is effectively an accessory to murder. Thanks to him the coast was clear for the killer(s) to kill again, or live an exemplary life, or get killed or to do whatever they were going to do next and after that. And had Mr. Flowers been on the schedule that day he’d be long dead now. How does an accident or mistake unfold over such a long time? Why Evans? Why? Poor poor everyone. They’ve been dead for so long that the people who love them won’t live to know what’s happened to them.
42
What you say, with respect to double jeopardy, is correct. But one might hope that the law would recognize that prosecutorial misconduct is an indication that the prosecutor doesn't have much faith in his case. Particularly after such misconducts invalidates multiple convictions.
Prosecutors would not have to tamper with the jury pool or inappropriately 'coach' (manipulate) witnesses if they had strong cases.
We need better ways of identifying the guilty and exonerating the innocent. Science is helping, but it comes at a cost (a cost, I suspect, lower than the cost of multiple trials). The current system, in which most are convicted due to their inability to afford an appropriate defense, is patently unjust.
Enraging indeed. Prosecutors with such obvious bias, who repeatedly commit specific offenses as part of their work conduct, as found by the Mississippi Supreme Court regarding Evans in this case, should be removed from office and barred from ever serving as prosecutors again. What Evans and others like him in such cases have done is a breach of public trust.
181
Such prosecutors should be charged and tried and if guilty of malpractice sent to jail - period!
23
I think they should be disbarred and prevented from being allowed to a bar (the legal one) anywhere in the country. They have clearly demonstrated such a disdain for the law that they should not be allowed to practice it in any capacity.
16
I think Evans is a Liar and a criminal and should be put in prison for not following the law!
11
Reading about the injustices visited upon Curtis Flowers and Kevin Cooper is infuriating and demoralizing.
It's hard not to conclude that some prosecutors want to have their cases won and done, and aren't going to let facts get in their way.
One can only hope that publicizing their sides of the story will pressure the powers that be to do right by the innocent.
If the legal system ultimately improves from these wrongful imprisonments and justice prevails for these men, then their years lost will not have been in vain.
199
I have had Mexican/American friends face this same procedure. They are held without any proof & with a bail so outrageous that they must wait for even a procedural hearing. My contacts with local authorities verify that there are multiple cases of lying informants & situations that keep innocent people incarcerated beyond what is reasonable in a society of Christian people.
14
@NM -- great observations, my friend. Equal justice for all isn't about winning or losing. A person's life is at stake and Doug Evans' priorities are misplaced here. The president whines about the Mueller investigation being a witch hunt but could you imagine his reaction if Doug Evans were the Special Prosecutor and ignored evidence, six times, of the president's innocence? Now, that's a witch hunt!
22
"their years lost will not have been in vain."...........easy to say if you're not the one going through it!
11