Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Angry employee shoots lady boss dead in the face, kills three others & walks free!

Episode Date: January 14, 2020

Death row inmate Curtis Flowers, convicted for quadruple murder, gets his conviction turned over for the SIXTH time. A Mississippi judge grants Flowers bail while the prosecution considers a seventh trial.Joining Nancy Grace to discuss: Kathleen Murphy: Family attorney Cloyd Steiger: 36-year homicide detective & author of "Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer: Gary Gene Grant" Dr Bethany Marshall: Psychoanalyst, Beverly Hills Dr Michelle Dupre: South Carolina Medical Examiner & author of “Homicide Investigation Field Guide” Jerry Mitchell: Investigative reporter for Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, author of upcoming book "Race Against Time" Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. A guy gets fired from his job at a furniture store and then mysteriously a few days later the female owner of the store is gunned down in the store multiple shots to her face along with three other employees including a teen boy who was working there. Despite a mountain of evidence, and even after the killer is convicted, bam, reversal. Not once, not twice, six times. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. With shock and disbelief, onlookers steer at Tardy Furniture Company,

site of Winona's quadruple shooting friends and relatives identified the dead as tardy furniture store owner bertha tardy her bookkeeper carmen rigby and a newly hired employee robert goldman the fourth victim derrick bobo stewart like the others the teenage all-star baseball player was shot in the back of the head, execution style. On July 16th, somebody goes into the Tardy furniture store, steals $380-something out of the cash register, and leaves four bodies on the floor. Locals described Tardy as a person who was well-known and well-liked here. They said she was very active in her community and her church. For those reasons, many here are

having a hard time believing her family business has become the site of such a gruesome crime. Oh my stars. As we learn in the recent breaking news out of the Supreme Court, the death penalty conviction in a quadruple murder, four people dead, has been overturned. Curtis Flowers sentenced to death for a quadruple shooting, leaving four dead in a furniture store in Winona, Mississippi. His case now overturned. The victims, Bertha Tardy, three employees, Carmen Rigby, Robert Golden, and Derek Stewart. Stewart was just 16 years old. Flowers had been arrested for the shooting seven months after it happened. He has had six trials. But now we learned the Supreme Court has overturned the conviction. Big question, what connects him to the four brutal murders? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. With me, Kathleen

Murphy, North Carolina family lawyer, Cloyd Stiger, 36 years, Seattle PD, author of Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer, Gary Jean Grant, Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst out of LA at drbethanymarshall.com, renowned medical examiner out of South Carolina, author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, Dr. Michelle Dupree. Joining me right now, investigative reporter from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, author of the upcoming book, Race Against Time, Jerry Mitchell. Jerry Mitchell, first of all, I'll get into the legalities later regarding the Supreme Court overturning this conviction after six trials. First, let's talk about the evidence that actually connects this guy, 49-year-old Curtis Flowers, to the brutal murders of four people, including the

owner of the furniture store, 59-year-old Bertha Tardy, and a 16-year-old boy. Oh, I can hardly take it in. What happened? Well, Curtis Flowers was working in the summer of 1996 at Tardy Furniture there in Winona. And so during the course of working for him one day, he loaded batteries into the back of the truck. He didn't tie them down. They fell out.

He didn't show back up to work, basically, and then called and talked to Ms. Tardy and said, do I still have a job? And Ms. Tardy said, no, and we're going to duck. You're saying batteries fell off of a truck? Yeah, like car batteries. Oh, big car batteries. Yeah, like car batteries. Okay, because car batteries. Yeah, like car batteries. Okay, because in my mind, all I thought of was AAA batteries. I'm like, it's not that big of a deal.

No, no, not like flashlight batteries. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I've got my JD. I don't have my degree in auto repair. I know, yes, I know what a car battery looks like. But how many fell off? I mean, why was it such a big deal? Well, I don't know.

I don't know the exact number. But it was enough that it was going to be an expense deducted from his paycheck. And then he just left. Yeah, he never. He called her. Yeah, he just never showed back up. Then he called. Do I still have a job?

Because he did not secure the batteries. Is that what happened? He didn't have them secured correctly. So he got fired. Take a listen to this. My understanding is Curtis Flowers became a suspect almost right away, largely based on a conversation that the Mississippi Sheriff's Department, Police Department had with the daughter

of one of the victims, Roxanne Ballard. The daughter mentioned that Curtis Flowers had gotten into some sort of dispute over money. Flowers had been working for Bertha Tardy. He had been fired from that job for failing to show up. He didn't show up because he damaged some batteries he was told he would have to replace. There was apparently a check made out to him on the desk. It's my understanding of how they got fairly quickly from a universe of suspects to Curtis

Flowers. You're hearing our friends at STARS, their investigative series, The Wrong Man. Jerry Mitchell, what happened? So about eight days before the killing, there was a burglary. Like someone broke in the roof of Tardy Furniture and stole, this is kind of interesting, stole the side door key. What does that mean? Well, there's a side door to this furniture place that you could enter from. You follow what I'm saying? You wouldn't have to enter through the front door. Oh, did you say they came through the roof?

Yes, they did. And all they wanted was a side door key? Yeah, that's kind of interesting. Very interesting, because that means they want to get in at a later date. And they want to get in. I mean, if they were just coming in to rob, they could have done, they could have taken it right then, whatever money was, was there, but instead all they took was a key. Okay, go ahead. Sorry. I'm just ruminating on what you're saying, Jerry Mitchell. And so on the morning of July the 16th, so you, you essentially, as was mentioned earlier, the four people who work there at the store were killed, and very brutally.

And it was very obvious from the crime scene that one of them was trying to run away and was shot more than once. The rest of them were pretty much shot point you know, point blank, you know, just like bam, bam, bam. I mean, it would, it would have been very quick or there could have been more than one person involved. And so then the, the boy sees this calls, obviously calls the police. They come to investigate, uh, there, they've been shot to death of a.380 caliber handgun. And so then not long after that, law enforcement gets a call that someone had burglarized the car

and stolen his.380 pistol. So that kind of becomes the driving clue, I guess you could say, in the early part of the investigation. So that gets connected to Curtis Flowers. Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean that gets connected to Curtis Flowers? Well, the theft of that same gun, you know, same type of gun as was used in the crime. Yeah. My question to you is, how was that theft connected back to Curtis Flowers? There was witness testimony along the lines of having spotted Curtis in the area of the car. So that's where that comes from.

Well, I mean, when Clarence Thomas disagreed with the reversal, he said Flowers was clearly guilty. And the case was not overturned because Flowers is not believed to be guilty. The case is being overturned because it was alleged that the prosecutor on multiple occasions struck black jurors. You can't do that under the Constitution. You can't strike somebody based on race and if you do you get a reversal bam it's just that simple that's a v kentucky everybody knows the case every lawyer knows it kathleen murphy when you're striking a jury it doesn't matter civil criminal it could be for jaywalking you do not strike jurors based on race. And in every case, you better take notes about why you strike jurors. For instance, I might strike a juror because they don't have a

job. I don't like somebody that doesn't know how to show up on time and be responsible. You don't have a job? I don't want you on the jury. Now, that's just me, but that's not unconstitutional. I want somebody that is responsible sitting on that jury. And if I've got a big red flag that somebody can't even show up to work and have a job, I don't want them on my jury. So that is a reason you can strike somebody. But if you're striking somebody because they're black, uh-uh. And, oh, let's just say you're trying a DUI vehicular homicide. I don't want somebody that has been

already convicted for DUI because they're going to think, oh, you know, I was mistreated. Now, this guy probably wasn't DUI and blah, blah, blah. I don't want somebody that is blood related to the defendant. I mean, there's a lot of reasons you don't want somebody on a jury, but you absolutely shall not strike based on race, any race. Bingo. And not only did it happen one time, but it happened many, many times with the very same prosecutor. I mean, really. And now you've got a quadruple killing hanging in the balance. Take a listen to our friends at WAPT 16. We're talking about Curtis Flowers.

He's already been tried six times for killing four people at a furniture store in Winona. That was more than 20 years ago. Today, the nation's highest court threw out his latest conviction accusing state prosecutors of intentionally keeping blacks off the jury. A decisive decision. A 7-2 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a pretty resounding decision. The U.S. Supreme Court overturns Curtis Flowers' murder conviction and death sentence. Friday, the justices ruled Mississippi prosecutors intentionally discriminated against blacks during jury selection for Flowers' trial in 2010.

They said, quote, the state's relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of black individuals strongly suggests the state wanted to try Flowers before a jury with as few black jurors as possible and ideally before an all-white jury. But on that exact same issue, racial discrimination during jury selection, the Mississippi Supreme Court has found Doug Evans did the same thing with Curtis Flowers in the past. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We're talking about the Curtis Flowers. He's already been tried six times for killing four people at a furniture store in Winona. That was more than 20 years ago.

Today, the nation's highest court threw out his latest conviction, accusing state prosecutors of intentionally keeping blacks off the jury. A decisive decision. A 7-2 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a pretty resounding decision. The U.S. Supreme Court overturns Curtis Flowers' murder conviction and death sentence. Friday, the justices ruled Mississippi prosecutors intentionally discriminated against blacks during jury selection for Flowers' trial in 2010. They said, quote, the state's relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of black

individuals strongly suggests the state wanted to try Flowers before a jury with as few black jurors as possible and ideally before an all-white jury. But on that exact same issue, racial discrimination during jury selection, the Mississippi Supreme Court has found Doug Evans did the same thing with Curtis Flowers in the past. You are hearing our friends at WAPT 16. I have never had either. Well, I have had an all-African American jury many, many times. I started to say I've never had a one race jury in my life. Actually, I've had many all African-American juries before. Never had an all white jury.

I don't think I've ever even had a predominantly white jury in all the cases that I tried. But I do know this. You darn well better be able to explain why you strike people. Now, the state claims they struck jurors because they knew the Flowers family or because they knew the victims in the case. They thought that would be a pillable error. I don't understand why anybody would try to keep African-Americans off the jury. I mean, for Pete's sake, one of the victims is African-American. Mr. Robert Golden was African-American. I don't know why that would happen, but I do know this. I do know that the evidence points to Curtis Flowers being guilty. For instance, it was shown

that he was the one that stole a.380 caliber weapon, the same caliber that was used in the quadruple murders. Back to you, Jerry Mitchell. What other evidence links Curtis Flowers to the four murders? Well, there was about $400, less than $400 missing from the cash drawer. And a state police investigator testified that $235 was found in his girlfriend's headboard, you know, headboard of the bed. There were also bloody footprints at the scene. And there was quite a bit of testimony on this. So the footprints were supposed to be a 10 and a half shoe.

It was a Thela. Thela made a Grant Hill shoe. And that's what the, it was very specific shoe. And tied to, were able to, it was a little bit of a roundabout way, but basically tried to tie those back to flowers. Witnesses did say they saw them in those particular shoes that morning. What kind of shoes were they again? It's a Fila Grant Hill.

Fila is a shoe company, and they make a Grant Hill style. Back then, they did. You know, basketball player Grant Hill. Take a listen to this. Another critical piece of evidence is that Fila footwear impression. Bloody shoe prints are found at the crime scene, and police figure out they match Fila's sneakers, size 10 1⁄2, Curtis' shoe size. And then they find an empty shoe box

at the home of his girlfriend. But there was no sneakers in there, and she said that those shoes belonged to her son. She said they belonged to her son. I know they're a popular sneaker, but we still have to think about that. The gun itself was never recovered. They determined it was a.380.

Curtis Flower's uncle, Doyle Simpson, had reported a.380 stolen from his car around the time of the murders. So now you've got two links with the missing gun and the gunshot residue. Just if you're a freeze frame at day one, that was more than enough, right, to convince the police that Curtis did it. You are hearing our friends at STARS, their investigative series, The Wrong Man, describing the bloody shoe imprint from a Phila brand shoe size 10 1⁄2, the same size the defendant wore and the same style he was wearing that morning.

Joining me, Cloyd Steiger, 36 years, Seattle PD, 22, homicide. Dr. Bethany Marshall and Dr. Michelle Dupree, to Cloyd Steiger. What other evidence do you find that especially links Curtis Flowers to these four murders? And again, several justices on the Supreme Court said this is not about guilt or innocence. We're not saying he's innocent. We're saying the jury wasn't struck correctly. Yeah, that's exactly right. So it's more of an alleged prosecutal misconduct, enough to have six trials, which is, you know, such a burden on the victim's families to have to go through that. But, you know, the things you have, and I don't have a specific list of all the physical evidence, but you have the circumstantial evidence that he was fired from a job. He had the circumstantial evidence that P was taken, the.380 taken out of the truck. And I

thought I read that it was mistaken from his uncle's truck. So he would have known the gun was in there. And then, of course, I'd be interested in the crime scene if his boss was shot in the face or was there more shots to her than everybody else? So she was the intended target and the others were just witnesses he had to get rid of. That's the type of stuff I would look at. But I don't know in this case if that's true. Take a listen to this. The police took him in for questioning.

They did a GSR test, a gunshot residue test. They found one particle on his right hand. One single particle. If he did all of this shooting, wouldn't he have more than one particle? He could have washed his hands. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. In the recent breaking news out of the Supreme Court, the death penalty conviction in a quadruple murder, four people dead, has been overturned.

Curtis Flowers sentenced to death for a quadruple shooting, leaving four dead in a furniture store in Winona, Mississippi. His case now overturned. The victims, Bertha Tardy, three employees, Carmen Rigby, Robert Golden, and Derek Stewart. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. With me, Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina family lawyer,

Cloyd Stiger, 36 years, Seattle PD, author of Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer, Gary Jean Grant. Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst out of L.A. at drbethanymarshall.com. Renowned medical examiner out of South Carolina. Author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, Dr. Michelle Dupree. Joining me right now, investigative reporter from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, author of the upcoming book, Race Against Time, Jerry Mitchell. Jerry Mitchell, take a listen to this. The police took him in for questioning. They did a GSR test, a gunshot residue test. They found one particle on his right hand. One single particle. If he did all of this shooting, wouldn't he have more than one particle?

He could have washed his hands. That is entirely true to Cloyd Steiger, 22 years homicide detective and author. I don't have gunshot residue on my hands. I can tell you that right now. Gunshot residue is like baby powder. It can come off, you know, if you just brush your hands on your clothes. The fact that he had any gunshot residue

at all on his trigger hand, I think is very significant. Yeah, I think is very significant. Yeah, I'd also want to know how long after the shooting happened that that test was given. I mean, if you fall off, you wash your hands. And, you know, although it's a caveat, there can be false positives on gunshot residue tests. Yeah, I mean, there can be. And little green men could have come down from Mars and gone into the furniture store and killed four people, too.

Yeah, that could happen. But the likelihood of that happening is very, very low. Take a listen to this. The police took him in for questioning. They did a GSR test, a gunshot residue test. They found one particle on his right hand. One single particle. If he did all of this shooting, wouldn't he have more than one particle? He could have washed his hands.

He could have wiped his hands. Okay, could he get gunshot residue on his hands from being in the police car? From transferring, yes. Yes, absolutely. Yep. There's also the money that was found in his girlfriend's house. Right. Police reported around $400 was taken from the cash register at Tardy's,

and they found about $250 at the girlfriend's house. When they hit him in the headboard. Yeah, right. Some people don't like banks. That doesn't mean, you know, she was hiding his stash money. You are hearing our friends at Starz, their investigative series, The Wrong Man. To Dr. Bethany Marshall, if this is correct shots to the face, what does that tell you? Well, I would want to know more about the behavioral evidence before commenting on that, meaning how did he talk, if he had a girlfriend and the money was found in

the headboard, how was he talking to the girlfriend about the boss? How did he feel about being fired? Was he obsessing about the boss? Did he have what we call persecutory distress, meaning that he felt that the boss had affected his life in some irreversibly bad way. You know, some people get fired from a job, they're young, and they say, oh, you know what, I'll go get another job. Or I'm employable in other areas. However, we know many people who get fired who then go back and commit homicide, like workplace violence. They have a recent history of having felt that there was a power imbalance between them and another employee. Sometimes we find that another employee got

promoted. They didn't. They feel underpaid. They have a history of violence. And they feel that they're inferior to other people in society. And that gets placed on the boss. So if she was shot multiple times in the face, the boss, and he had all these behavioral characteristics, that would very powerfully point to him as the perpetrator in this case. Not only that, but we now learn witnesses place him in the area of the furniture store the morning of the shooting. Listen. Make another statement to us concerning the trial of Curtis Flowers.

Clemmie, from that point on, when you first saw him, what was his actions? What was he doing? He was running. Okay. In which direction? He was running like toward or Okay, in other words

you've been away from parties. Okay. What caught your attention to begin with? Because I ain't never seen him running. I always see him riding

in a truck or riding in a car or something. I ain't never seen him running. I always see him riding in a truck or, you know, riding in a car or something. I ain't never seen him running. Okay. To Jerry Mitchell, investigative reporter with the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, a 2009 MacArthur Fellow, Jerry, doubt was cast on the witness stating she saw him running from the furniture store. But other witnesses seemingly placed him in the vicinity that morning. Is that true? Yes, there was a whole long line of witnesses who kind of were documenting his trail to the furniture store and then leaving the furniture store as well.

You had a whole series of witnesses along those lines. I find it hard to believe that they were all lying, every single one of them, placing him at the furniture store from where he was fired. How many weeks? Two weeks before the shootings? Yeah, it was like, right, exactly like two weeks. Somewhere in that neighborhood. Absolutely.

Take a listen to this. Since the last trial, witnesses Odell Hallman, Clemmie Fleming, and Ed McCrishan have dragged candid or drastically changed their previous testimony that was offered against Mr. Flowers. From other pleadings that have been filed in this case, this court is also on judicial notice that Patricia Hallman, another witness that testified against Ms. Flowers in the past, has been convicted of multiple counsel federal income tax fraud, which will undermine her credibility. So it seems to me that a lot of evidence leaks Curtis Flowers to the murders. Number one, multiple witnesses place him in the vicinity of the four murders the very morning of the murders. Money was taken from the till. Money was found hidden beside his girlfriend's bed. Bloody footprints link up to

specifically a Fila Grant Hill style ten and a half, which is exactly the shoe he wore and was wearing that morning. He was seen in the vicinity of the car, his uncle's car. He knew the gun was in there where a.380 caliber was stolen. A.380 caliber was used in this case. Someone broke into the furniture store specifically to get the key to one of the side doors so they would not be seen at the front, taking nothing else else and he'd been fired from the job about two weeks before. Gunshot residue on his trigger hand? I mean, to me, that's a pretty strong conviction. The procedural errors of striking the jury and eliminating African Americans from the jury,

that's why this is being reversed. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that a white Mississippi prosecutor's goal was to have an all-white jury decide the fate of an African-American man accused of murder, which is unconstitutional. The court's newest justice said that District Attorney Doug Evans waged a relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of black individuals. It was Curtis Flowers' sixth trial for the same quadruple murder. Kavanaugh pointed to a pattern, noting that Evans had removed 41 of the 42 prospective black jurors over the six trials. Sherri Lynn Johnson is Flowers' lawyer. I think that when seven members of this court, which is often divided, are agreed that there was racial discrimination, then that's a powerful signal that both something went terribly wrong

and that the Supreme Court cares about it. She says Flowers was happy with the decision, even though he's now facing a possible seventh trial for the murders. You are hearing our friends at CBS. Joining me right now, investigative reporter from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, author of the upcoming book, Race Against Time, Jerry Mitchell. If Flowers' convictions were overturned four times, the reason he stayed in jail was because nobody ever said he was innocent. The court didn't say that. They just said procedural errors required a retrial. Is that correct?

Yes, and it's a capital murder charge. So obviously, at least in Mississippi, the defense are typically denied bond in cases of capital murder unless there are circumstances. Now, was he facing the death penalty, or did he just get four lives? Definitely. Death penalty. Got the death penalty sentence. That was never carried out. Or did he just get four lives? Definitely. Definitely. Got the death penalty sentence.

That was never carried out. Now, Jerry, another question. We know that it's been alleged that African-American jurors were struck systematically. Was that what happened in his last trial? Was that the misconduct in the last trial? I think essentially the pattern was throughout the cases, but that's my understanding. It's essentially with each of the cases, you know, I think it was something like 50% of the potential black jurors were struck. So that's what happened in his last trial. They struck, they tried to get an all-white jury.

Is that what happened in the last trial? That's my understanding. It was just a pattern of behavior. Take a listen to this. In the third trial, Mr. Flowers was tried and convicted of the capital murder of Bertha Tardy, Robert Golden, Carmen Rigby, and Derek Stewart. Those convictions were reversed because the Mississippi Supreme Court found that the state of Mississippi had engaged in racial discrimination during jury selection. In the fourth trial, Mr. Flowers was again tried for committing all four murders. In that case, prosecution did not seek the death penalty.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict verdict and a mistrial was declared. In the fifth trial and also incidentally the first time I was involved in this case, Mr. Flowers was again tried for committing all four murders. The state of Mississippi reversed course and again sought the death penalty. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and another mistrial was declared. In the sixth trial, Mr. Flowers was tried and convicted for committing all four murders. The jury imposed the death penalty. Those convictions were reversed by the United States Supreme Court.

The court found that the state of Mississippi had once again engaged in racial discrimination during jury selection. Another question, has this guy actually gotten out on bond, Jerry Mitchell? He has, he has. The judge basically let him out the other day and kind of signaled, he called it troubling. The prosecutors have yet to respond to a defense motion to drop the charges against Flowers. So he kind of said, you know, if the prosecutors fail to respond, as he put it, the state will reap the whirlwind. Take a listen to this. I want to say this while I'm on record on this case. I want to note the troubling fact that in the nearly four months that this case has been back before the court, the state of Mississippi has taken absolutely no action of any kind in furtherance of this prosecution.

Even after being ordered to do so, the state failed to file a written response to the motion for bail. The state's also failed to file a written response to the motion to disqualify District Attorney Doug Evans, even though the state again had notice of that. The state has also failed to file a written response to the pending motion to dismiss the indictment. So I just will have this caution for the state of Mississippi. If it continues in its dilatory conduct and if it continues to ignore orders issued by the court, the state of Mississippi will reap the whirlwind. Well, I can tell you this much. I typically do not agree. Well, I never agree with a death row inmate walking free on bond. But in this case, the prosecutors did not respond to a bail motion.

I mean, that's like not showing up for a ball game. You forfeit. This is insane that the prosecutors did not respond to a bail motion. Let me ask you this, Jerry Mitchell. If he goes back to trial, I'm sure the same evidence is going to come in. If he's convicted, do you believe it will be the same sentence?

Because I don't. That's a good question. I don't know. I mean, I'm actually leaning toward the fact that he, I don't see him getting tried again. If the state's already bailing on all these other things already, it sounds like they're trying to get him. To drop the charges for him. Yeah, exactly. Let me hear that sound again, Jackie, because someone was speaking to me.

That would be you while you were playing. I need to hear what the judge said again. I want to say this while I'm on record on this case. I want to note the troubling fact that in the nearly four months that this case has been back before the court, the state of Mississippi has taken absolutely no action of any kind in furtherance of this prosecution. Even after being ordered to do so, the state failed to file a written response to the motion for bail. The state's also failed to file a written response to the motion to disqualify District Attorney Doug Evans, even though the state, again, had notice of that.

The state has also failed to file a written response to the pending motion to dismiss the indictment. So I just will have this caution for the state of Mississippi. If it continues in its dilatory conduct and if it continues to ignore orders issued by the court, the state of Mississippi will reap the whirlwind. Man, that judge means business. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend.