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Curtis Giovanni Flowers is an African-American man who has been tried six times in the state of Mississippi, United States, for murder in the July 16, 1996, shooting deaths of four people inside Tardy Furniture store in downtown Winona. On June 18, 2010, his sixth trial jury convicted him of the 1996 murders of an ex-employer and three workers. Two earlier trials ended as mistrials; three trials ended as convictions that were later overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court. ==Case== Flowers was accused of shooting the owner, Bertha Tardy, and three workers, at Tardy Furniture, a Winona furniture store from which he had been recently fired, on July 16, 1996. On the morning of July 16, 1996, a retired employee of Tardy Furniture, entered the store only to find the bodies of four victims. Curtis Flowers became an immediate suspect after learning that he had been fired from the store a few days earlier than the murders. He also owed Bertha Tardy $30 for a cash advance on his paycheck. In addition to the suspected personal problems with the Tardy family and Flowers, many eyewitnesses saw Flowers near the front of the store on the morning of the shootings. Eyewitnesses also saw Flowers sitting on the hood of his uncle's car the morning of the murders; the same car from which the gun matching the shootings was stolen. He was convicted and sentenced to death in Montgomery County in 1997 of the murder of the store owner. Evidence submitted for the prosecution stated that bloody footprints found at the crime scene were a 10½, the size worn by Flowers, and that they were specifically Fila Grant Hill, which, according to witnesses, Flowers was wearing. In addition, projectiles found at the crime scene were most likely from a .380 caliber weapon, matching a gun stolen from Flowers' uncle on the morning of the murders. Forensic evidence also showed that there were gunshot particles on Flowers' clothes and hands. $287 was found missing from the till, and $255 was found at the home of Flowers' girlfriend. According to two of Flowers' cell-mates, he admitted to them that he had stolen the money and committed the murders. Flowers continues to deny said admittance. 〔(In the Supreme Court of Mississippi, NO. 97-DP-01459-SCT, Curtis Giovanni Flowers v. State of Mississippi, On Motion for Rehearing, 10/17/1997. )〕 Flowers denied the murders, stating that he had not admitted any crimes to his cell-mates, that he was wearing Nike shoes, that the clothes he was wearing did not match the description given by witnesses, and that he had been handling fireworks the day before the murders. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Curtis Flowers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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