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    • In the Dark

    S2 E9: Why Curtis?

    Not Trained to Not Kill

    Most states neglect ordering police to learn de-escalation tactics to avoid shootings

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    Chapter 6: Resistance

    Featured Documentaries

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

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      Shackled Legacy

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

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    The Educate Podcast

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    • Hokitika Primary School in New Zealand.

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      May 21
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    Recent Stories

     

    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.

     

    The rise and reign of Doug Evans

    by Parker Yesko

    How to spend 26 years in office.

    District attorney Doug Evans' office in Grenada, Mississippi.

    S2 E8: The D.A.

    After investigating every aspect of the Curtis Flowers case, we were nearly ready to present what we'd found to District Attorney Doug Evans. But first we tried to learn all we could about him: his childhood, his years as a police officer and his record as district attorney. Then, finally, we met the man who's spent more than two decades trying to have Flowers executed.

    Curtis Flowers trial 6 venire

    How did Curtis Flowers end up with a nearly all-white jury?

    In 2010, a jury of 11 whites and one African-American convicted Flowers and sentenced him to death. Defense attorneys would later claim the trial essentially had been decided in jury selection. Here's how it went down.

    Montgomery County Courthouse in Winona, Mississippi.

    Why a nearly all-white jury might be legal

    by Will Craft

    When is a strike legal? Take our quiz below and try to spot an unconstitutional strike, using potential jurors from trials in the Fifth Circuit Court District, where Doug Evans is district attorney, and the reasons given for striking them.

    Jurors for the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam

    Acquitting Emmett Till's killers

    by Parker Yesko

    There was overwhelming evidence that J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant had murdered the 14-year-old in 1955, but they never spent a day in prison thanks to an all-white jury.

    Montgomery County Courthouse in Winona, Mississippi

    S2 E7: The Trials of Curtis Flowers

    There's one critical aspect of the Curtis Flowers case that we haven't looked at yet — the makeup of the juries. Each of the four times Flowers was convicted, the jury was all white or nearly all white. So we decided to look more closely at why so few black jurors had been selected. And it wasn't always happenstance.

    Odell Hallmon testifying at Curtis Flowers' sixth trial in 2010.

    What does Odell Hallmon's reversal mean for the Curtis Flowers case?

    by Parker Yesko

    The jailhouse informant's testimony helped win a conviction — and his recantation might scuttle it.

    Guards, Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.

    Letter from Parchman: Inside Mississippi's notorious prison

    by Parker Yesko

    The state penitentiary began more than a century ago as a way to subjugate African-Americans after the end of slavery, and it later maintained segregation well into the 1970s. And it's where Curtis Flowers has spent much of his adult life, sometimes in brutal conditions.

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