BREAKING: Supreme Court overturns Mississippi murder conviction on racial bias grounds

[StarfishSaver]

ON EDIT: I stepped all over the lede! Kavanaugh wrote the opinion! Thomas, not surprisingly, dissented.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 2010 conviction in the case of Curtis Flowers, a black man on death row in Mississippi for the 1996 murder of four people in a furniture store.

The high court sided with Curtis’ lawyers, who argued that District Attorney Doug Evans, who is white, excluded potential black jurors on the basis of race in the 2010 trial. The defense attorneys said the Mississippi Supreme Court failed to properly apply U.S. Supreme Court precedent in determining whether people were unconstitutionally kept off a jury on the basis of race.

Evans has attempted to convict Flowers six times over the years: in 1997, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2010. Two trials — the only ones with more than one black juror — resulted in hung juries. The Mississippi Supreme Court overturned the three earlier convictions on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct, including that Evans improperly excluded potential black jurors.

But the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the 2010 conviction, and Flowers was sentenced to death. In March, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Flowers v. Mississippi, with both conservative and liberal justices pointing to the “troubling” nature of the case
...
Flowers, who had no criminal record, was charged with the killings in part because he had briefly worked at the store and was fired several days before. He has been behind bars for more than 20 years now. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supreme-court-curtis-flowers-murder-conviction-overturned_n_5cf84665e4b0e63eda953bb1

Opinion: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-9572_k536.pdf

[Sherman A1]

1. K&R

[PoliticAverse]

2. 7-2 with Kavanaugh writing the decision...

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/21/supreme-court-rules-for-curtis-flowers-black-man-tried-six-times-for-murder.html

Opinion FLOWERS v. MISSISSIPPI (.pdf): https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-9572_k536.pdf

[StarfishSaver]

6. Kavanaugh issued a straight-up smackdown of the prosecutors

In sum, the State’s pattern of striking black prospective jurors persisted from Flowers’ first trial through Flowers’ sixth trial. In the six trials combined, the State struck 41 of the 42 black prospective jurors it could have struck. At the sixth trial, the State struck five of six. At the sixth trial, moreover, the State engaged in dramatically disparate questioning of black and white prospective jurors. And it engaged in disparate treatment of black and white prospective jurors, in particular by striking black prospective juror Carolyn Wright.

To reiterate, we need not and do not decide that any one of those four facts alone would require reversal. All that we need to decide, and all that we do decide, is that all of the relevant facts and circumstances taken together establish that the trial court at Flowers’ sixth trial committed clear error in concluding that the State’s peremptory strike of black prospective juror Carolyn Wright was not motivated in substantial part by discriminatory intent.

In reaching that conclusion, we break no new legal ground. We simply enforce and reinforce Batson by applying it to the extraordinary facts of this case.

Kavanaugh kicked the Mississippi prosecutors' asses on this one.

Mind Blown

[StarfishSaver]

10. And Thomas' dissent is a true piece of work

He's pissed that the Court took the case in the first place and rails about that for awhile and then he attacks the majority on the merits, claiming that the State offered "multiple race-neutral" reasons for striking virtually all of the black potential jurors and excoriating the majority for not buying them.

Not surprising from the man who thought that brutally beating a black prisoner while the warden watched wasn't unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment because he didn't suffer permanent damage.

[sarabelle]

4. Wow! 45 is not going to like this. He will feel betrayed.

How will he hide his disappointment?

[calimary]

22. Color me surprised.

Doesn’t rehabilitate Kavanaugh but maybe it’s a start.

I’ve interviewed many an actor who’s said that when they got into costume for some role, it really changed them. And it transported them into that reality.

Do you suppose maybe when that unapologetic creep donned those robes, and stepped into those chambers, that it modified his thinking a little, too?

[StarfishSaver]

25. I don't know

And I'm not going to get my hopes up that he's had some kind of metamorphosis.

But as I said below, I think it might have something to do with the egregiousness of the racism and injustice in this case. He probably has never been directly confronted with anything like this in his career and it may have been shocking to him - especially considering he runs in circles of people who insist this kind of thing doesn't happen.

And, let's not forget the influence his law clerks could have on him. Judges depend heavily on their clerks and when they get really good ones, the give and take can be very informative and enlightening for the judges. It's possible that he's got a a good group of clerks who not only understand the law, but may also bring experience and perspective he doesn't have. If he has a good relationship with them, they can have a lot of influence on him.

I don't expect to see this often from him. But I appreciate it today.

[Harker]

26. I doubt he'll prove to be a modern Thomas Becket.

It would be a welcome transformation, though.

[EffieBlack]

5. The Trump troops aren't gonna be happy about this

All that work to get Kavanaugh’s on the Court and THIS is how he repays them?

[sarabelle]

7. Who was the other dissenter? I couldn't find it.

What link does one use to learn about the final decision of the SCOTUS?

[StarfishSaver]

8. Gorsuch

[StarfishSaver]

11. Here are links to the opinion and to the Supreme Court cite where you can get the opinions

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-9572_k536.pdf

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/slipopinion/18

[StarfishSaver]

12. Also, Scotusblog is an excellent resource, if you're interested in reading more

http://www.scotusblog.com

[Turin_C3PO]

9. So far, Kavanaugh's surprised us a few times.

The federalist society can’t be happy about this.

[Tech]

13. I don't think we were worried about Kavanaugh being a racist

[StarfishSaver]

19. His earlier opinions did show hostility to civil rights

But I suspect that Kavanaugh's exposure to civil rights and the ugliest types of criminal justice abuses was somewhat limited. As a judge on the appellate court for the DC Circuit, he probably didn't have to deal with the most egregious kinds of violations

Being confronted with "Mississippi justice" may have been a shock. We're not talking about affirmative action or subtle voter suppression or not letting the black guy into the club not because he's black, you know, but because he won't "fit in."

This may have been the first time he's seen something like this where the state barely even tried to hide it's blatant discrimination in a life or death matter.

He sounds really pissed.

[AlexSFCA]

21. I'd be curious how he'll rule on lgbt related cases

It is safe to say that thomas and gorsuch are the extreme conservatives on the court who are very predictable. whereas kavanaugh, alito and roberts are less predictable now but still rw. Kavanaugh has a chance to redeem himself as legitimate if he rules to uphold roe v wade in its entitreity.

[OliverQ]

17. Don't get excited.

The Census and Gerrymandering cases are probably being ruled on next week and I'm sure Kavanaugh will happily give Republicans the legal authority to cheat.

[Zambero]

23. Even Gorsuch has sided with the liberal justices on occasion

Thomas seems to be the most strident right-winger of the bunch, with Alito not too far behind.

[Me.]

14. Did They Have Any Evidence Against Him

other than his having been fired and being black.

[StarfishSaver]

15. The Court didn't reexamine or second-guess the evidence

That's up to the jury. But it found that the jury selection was so unconstitutionally flawed, the jury's decision can't stand.

[obamanut2012]

16. zero -- there is an excellent podcast on this

Listen to it!

[Ligyron]

18. Well, isn't that enough in Mississippi?

Just in case...

[question everything]

27. No

Mr. Flowers, then 26, had worked at the store, but no physical evidence tied him to the crime. District Attorney Doug Evans, theorizing that Mr. Flowers killed the four victims in revenge after being fired, prosecuted him all six times.

And, of course, two trials ended with hung jury.

Hard to accept that he is going on trial again.

[ismnotwasm]

20. Holy shit

[sheshe2]

24. Kavanaugh?

I am shocked.