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    • In the Dark

    S2 E11: The End

    In the Dark

    Lola Flowers dies, mother and source of spiritual support to son, Curtis, imprisoned on death row

    Order 9066

    Chapter 8: Seeking Redress

    Featured Documentaries

    APM Reports has produced more than 140 audio documentaries on topics such as health, history, education and justice.

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      Hard to Read

      How American schools fail kids with dyslexia

    • Trump Immigration
      Shadow Class

      College dreamers in Trump's America

    • What It Takes
      What it Takes

      Two high-poverty schools chase better graduation rates

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      Shackled Legacy

      History shows slavery helped build many U.S. colleges and universities

    • Keeping Teachers
      Keeping Teachers

      Black men and teachers in rural areas are in especially short supply

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      Rewriting the Sentence

      College behind bars: Keeping an idea alive

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    The Educate Podcast

    • Stuck at Square One: The Remedial Education Trap

      College students increasingly caught in remedial education trap

      July 2
    • jocelyn-ramirez

      State financial aid money dries up before many low-income college students get help

      July 16
    • Domonique Crosby raises her hand in calculus class

      Louisiana ends policy that held thousands of students back a grade or more

      June 15
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      Liberal arts face uncertain future at nation's universities

      June 4

    Recent Stories

    Lola and Archie Flowers

    Lola Flowers dies, mother and source of spiritual support to son, Curtis, imprisoned on death row

    by Madeleine Baran

    For 21 years she regularly visited her son in Parchman prison and never gave up hope he'd be exonerated.

    Mississippi Supreme Court

    What happens now with Curtis Flowers' case?

    His lawyers are filing fresh appeals, and new evidence uncovered by reporters for "In the Dark" could make a difference.

    Al White on the path to the Duck Hill site.

    Execution in Mississippi: Who lives and who dies

    by Parker Yesko

    Can Mississippi, with its ugly history of racial oppression, administer the death penalty fairly?

    Jeffrey Armstrong in the tunnel

    S2 E11: The End

    For the last episode of the season, we went to meet Jeffrey Armstrong, who, a few years after Curtis Flowers first went to prison, found what might have been a key piece of evidence. What he found — and where he found it — offers hints that someone else may have committed the Tardy Furniture murders. Armstrong turned the evidence into the cops. And then, he says, it disappeared.

    The historic Montgomery County courthouse in Winona.

    Was there a Brady violation in the Curtis Flowers case - and why does it matter?

    by Parker Yesko

    If prosecutors didn't turn over critical evidence to the defense, Curtis Flowers could get a new trial.

    Marcus Presley, John Burleson

    The other suspects: Who law enforcement did and didn't investigate in the Tardy Furniture murders

    by Curtis Gilbert

    What an Alabama crime spree might reveal about the Curtis Flowers investigation.

    Walthall Courthouse

    The saga of Bobby Joe Townsend

    by Parker Yesko

    Not long after the Tardy Furniture murders, Doug Evans may have sent an innocent man to prison.

    Reporter Madeleine Baran

    S2 E10: Discovery

    Prosecutors have always said that Curtis Flowers was the only serious suspect in the Tardy Furniture investigation. But we found a document showing that another man, Willie James Hemphill, had also been questioned just days after the murders. Who was he? Why was he questioned? When we finally found Hemphill, living in Indianapolis, he had some very surprising things to say about the case.

     

    Why the eyewitness IDs of Curtis Flowers may not be reliable

    by Parker Yesko

    Catherine Snow and Porky Collins picked Curtis Flowers out of photo lineups. But, according to two experts, the flawed procedures used by investigators make these identifications highly questionable.

    John Johnson

    John Johnson: The investigator in his own words

    by Parker Yesko

    The most extensive record of Johnson talking about his work comes from a sworn deposition he gave in 1978 after he was sued in federal court.

    Curtis Flowers

    S2 E9: Why Curtis?

    After re-examining the case, we'd found no direct evidence linking Curtis Flowers to the murders at Tardy Furniture. But we had one lingering question: How did Flowers become the main suspect? Why would investigators focus so much on Flowers based on so little evidence? In short, why Curtis? We decided to find out.

    dot pie

    Mississippi D.A. has long history of striking many blacks from juries

    We gathered data on juries in central Mississippi going back 26 years. Analyzing hundreds of trials, we found that prosecutors were more than four times more likely to exclude black jurors.

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