WINONA, MISSISSIPPI — Curtis Flowers died at the age of 56. His family confirmed he passed away Wednesday at his home in Mississippi.

No cause of death was provided, according to attorney Rob McDuff. Flowers was taken into custody in January 1997 in Texas. He had no criminal record prior to his arrest. Flowers was tried six times for the 1996 killings. District Attorney Doug Evans prosecuted him in all six trials. In five of the six trials, Evans sought the death penalty.

Three of Flowers' convictions were overturned on appeal. Two of his trials ended in mistrials because jurors could not reach unanimous verdicts. Flowers was sentenced to death following his sixth trial in 2010. The 2010 jury included 11 white members and one Black juror. During jury selection for that trial, Evans dismissed five Black prospective jurors. Over the course of all six trials, Evans excluded 41 of 42 potential Black jurors.

Across all of Flowers' trials, 61 of the 72 jurors were White. All 61 White jurors who served in Flowers' trials voted to convict. No physical evidence such as DNA or fingerprints tied Flowers to the 1996 crime scene.

In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction and death sentence in a 7-2 ruling. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that the prosecution's actions reflected a "relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of Black individuals." He concluded that the removal of Black prospective jurors violated Flowers' right to a fair trial.

Flowers was released on bail in December 2019. Upon his release, he said, "Today, I am finally free from the injustice that left me locked in a box for nearly twenty three years." He added, "I’ve been asked if I ever thought this day would come. I have been blessed with a family that never gave up on me and with them by my side, I knew it would."

In September 2020, the state of Mississippi dropped all charges against him. A judge subsequently ordered Mississippi to pay Flowers $500,000 in compensation for wrongful imprisonment. In 2021, Flowers filed a federal lawsuit naming Doug Evans and three investigators as defendants. The lawsuit claimed Evans and the investigators engaged in misconduct, including pressuring witnesses to fabricate claims. Evans retired in 2023 after serving more than 30 years as district attorney.

Flowers' legal team said in a statement that each member feels "privileged to have called him a client." They said each member feels "privileged to have called him a client" and added, "Later, in the years after his release and exoneration, we felt equally honored to call him a friend."

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In 2025, the Mississippi Supreme Court was petitioned to suspend Evans' law license amid allegations of racial bias in jury selection and misconduct during the Flowers trials. Reporters from American Public Media's podcast In the Dark conducted an investigation into the case. The In the Dark investigation led witnesses, including one who said Flowers had confessed, to recant their stories.