The Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office has been appointed prosecutor in the case against Curtis Giovanni Flowers by Circuit Judge Joseph Loper, Jr.
Last month, District Attorney Doug Evans voluntarily recused himself from the future prosecution of Flowers, asking Loper to appoint the attorney general’s office as prosecutor. Wednesday, Loper issued an order for the granting his request.
The order stated, “The office of District Attorney Doug Evans is recused from this case. The Attorney General of Mississippi is appointed to the case in order to review the evidence and all other relevant matters and proceed as appropriate. The District Attorney shall provide his complete file to the Attorney General's office no later than February 28, 2020.”
Evans stated that his reasons for stepping down was to put the focus back on the victims.
“They were trying to make everything about me,” Evans said. “Nothing in the case has ever been about me. It was about the victims. It is easier for someone else to come in and present the facts and get a conviction.”
Flowers has been tried six times for the murders of four people at Tardy Furniture Store on July 16, 1996. Flowers’ 2010 conviction for the 1996 murders of Bertha Tardy, 59; Carmen Rigby, 45; Robert Golden, 42, and Derrick “Bobo” Stewart, 16, was overturned this past June by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 2010 conviction stemmed from Flowers sixth trial for capital murder. The first three convictions overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court and trials four and five ending in mistrials when the jury could not come to a unanimous verdict on guilt or innocence.
