Curtis Flowers Follow-Up

As a follow-up to last term’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Flowers v. Mississippi, Zack Budryk reports in The Hill:

A Mississippi district attorney who drew national attention by retrying a black man charged with murder six times announced Monday he will recuse himself from the case and asked the state attorney general’s office to retry it, according to The Associated Press.

“While I remain confident in both the investigation and the jury verdicts in this matter, I have come to the conclusion that my continued involvement will prevent the families from obtaining justice and for the defendant being held responsible for his actions,” District Attorney Doug Evans said in a statement.

Evans has tried Curtis Flowers six times and secured convictions four times since 1997 in connection with the shooting deaths of four people in a Mississippi furniture store in July 1996, twice for individual murders and twice for all four.

Given that Mr. Evans’ history in this case contributed to the last reversal, recusal is the right thing to do, regardless of the merits of the underlying case.