Episodes
After almost 23 years, Curtis Flowers is no longer behind bars. For his family, it's a long-awaited reunion. But not everyone in Winona is happy. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark.
Published 12/22/19
After nearly 23 years locked up, Curtis Flowers has a chance to get out on bail -- if his lawyers can convince the judge to rule in his favor. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark.
Published 12/16/19
As a special thank you for our donors, we're releasing an exclusive, donors-only episode of In The Dark on Sept. 17. Get an inside look at the day of the Supreme Court's decision, including exclusive audio from our reporting and an interview with the In The Dark team led by the host of the podcast Crime Writers On..., Rebecca Lavoie. Donate now to get the exclusive donors-only episode on Sept. 17.
Published 09/10/19
It's been 11 days since the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Curtis Flowers' conviction. But the story didn't end there. In recent days, there have been three other significant developments, including new details from a key witness, that may determine Flowers' fate. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark.
Published 07/02/19
On Friday, June 21, after months of deliberation, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its opinion in the Curtis Flowers case. In a 7-2 ruling, the justices threw out the conviction from his sixth trial, in 2010. The decision of what happens next -- whether to release Flowers or begin a seventh trial -- now lies with the same prosecutor who's pursued him from the beginning: Doug Evans. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark.
Published 06/21/19
After nearly nine years of appeals of his sixth trial, Curtis Flowers finally had his case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue was whether DA Doug Evans tried to keep African-Americans off the jury in the 2010 trial. Flowers wasn't at the Supreme Court -- he remains on death row in Mississippi -- but the In the Dark team was. This is what we saw. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark.
Published 03/26/19
We resume Season Two with the U.S. Supreme Court weighing Curtis Flowers' case. In the first of four new episodes, we preview oral arguments - set for Wednesday, March 20 - and delve into the allegations at the heart of the appeal: that Doug Evans tried to keep African-Americans off the jury in Curtis' sixth trial.
Published 03/19/19
Our second season spanned a year in Mississippi where we revealed misconduct, injustice and racial divide in the six trials of Curtis Flowers. The U.S. Supreme Court will now decide if the prosecutor racially discriminated in jury selections. In four new episodes starting March 19, we'll go into the courtroom for oral arguments, report the decision and examine the effect of the ruling. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark.
Published 02/19/19
We answer your questions and report on a fire in Winona. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark.
Published 11/27/18
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Curtis Flowers' appeal. Now the justices will examine if District Attorney Doug Evans had a history of racial discrimination in jury selection. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Published 11/02/18
In Season 1 of our podcast, we reported that the Jacob Wetterling case was a botched investigation. Just yesterday, law enforcement acknowledged it too. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Published 09/20/18
Two months after the season ended, we return to Winona to see what has changed. Turns out, a lot. Curtis Flowers' mother has died. The whole town is talking about the case. Flowers' defense lawyers are including our findings in their legal filings to the Supreme Court. Citizens are trying to file bar complaints against the district attorney, Doug Evans. One man has gone into hiding, his personal safety threatened because he spoke to us. In this update episode, we look at what's happened in...
Published 09/18/18
For the last episode of the season, we went to meet Jeffery 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. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark.
Published 07/03/18
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.
Published 06/26/18
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.
Published 06/19/18
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.
Published 06/12/18
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.
Published 06/05/18
Odell Hallmon, the state's key witness in the Curtis Flowers case, is serving three consecutive life sentences. We wondered what he might say now that there are no deals to cut, and he will spend the rest of his days in prison. Would he stick to his story that Flowers had confessed to the Tardy Furniture murders? We wrote him letters and sent him a friend request on Facebook. Weeks went by and we heard nothing. And then, one day, he wrote back.
Published 05/29/18
No witness has been more important to the prosecution's case against Curtis Flowers than Odell Hallmon. He testified in four trials that Flowers had confessed to him while the two men were in prison together. Hallmon has an astonishingly long criminal history that includes repeated charges for drug dealing, assault, and robbery. So how reliable is his testimony and did he receive anything in exchange for it? In this episode, we investigate the veracity of the prosecution's star witness.
Published 05/22/18
Over the years, three inmates have claimed that Curtis Flowers confessed to them that he killed four people at the Tardy Furniture store. But they've all changed their stories at one time or another. In this episode, we investigate who's really telling the truth.
Published 05/15/18
Investigators never found the gun used to kill four people at Tardy Furniture. Yet the gun, and the bullets matched to it, became a key piece of evidence against Curtis Flowers. In this episode, we examine the strange histories of the gun and the man who owned it.
Published 05/08/18
The case against Curtis Flowers relies heavily on three threads of evidence: the route he allegedly walked the morning of the murders, the gun that investigators believe he used, and the people he supposedly confessed to in jail. In this episode, we meet the witnesses who said they saw Flowers walking through downtown Winona, Mississippi, the morning of the murders. Some of their stories now waver on key details. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark.
Published 05/01/18
On the morning of July 16, 1996, someone walked into a furniture store in downtown Winona, Mississippi, and murdered four employees. Each was shot in the head. It was perhaps the most shocking crime the small town had ever seen. Investigators charged a man named Curtis Flowers with the murders. What followed was a two-decade legal odyssey in which Flowers was tried six times for the same crime. He remains on death row, though some people believe he's innocent. For the second season of In the...
Published 05/01/18
Curtis Flowers has been tried six times for the same crime. For 21 years, Flowers has maintained his innocence. He's won appeal after appeal, but every time, the prosecutor just tries the case again. What does the evidence reveal? And how can the justice system ignore the prosecutor's record and keep Flowers on death row? Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Published 04/16/18