WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court will begin Wednesday to examine the case of a black man who was tried six separate times for the same crime - which he insists he didn't commit - in a process tarnished by charges of racism.
Together with a radio colleague from American Public Media, she spent a year in Winona, Mississippi, where the case began on Jul 16, 1996 with the cold-blooded murder of four people in a furniture shop. Since then he has been tried for the murders a total of six times - in 1997, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2008 and finally in 2010 - each time maintaining his innocence.
He was convicted at his first three trials but the verdicts were overturned by the state Supreme Court for prosecutorial misconduct. Those cases were followed by two more trials which resulted in a hung jury.Alerted to Flowers' story by a listener, Baran became fascinated by the case because it highlighted the lack of constraints governing the behavior of prosecutors in the 50 US states.
Baran and her colleagues examined other cases he had prosecuted in his long career, analysing jury rosters and rejections of potential jurors.
Our courts really need some better oversight.
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