科里·威廉姆斯：库蒂斯·弗劳尔斯是一名黑人男子，他在监狱中度过了超过22年，并曾被关押在密西西比州的死囚牢中，直到美国最高法院推翻了他的定罪和死刑判决。他去世时年仅56岁。
COREY WILLIAMS Curtis Flowers, a Black man who spent more than 22 years in prison and was on death row in Mississippi before the U.S. Supreme Court threw out his conviction and death sentence, has died. He was 56.
弗劳尔斯的家人证实，他于周三在密西西比州的家中去世。他的律师罗布·麦克达夫周四向美联社透露了这一消息。
Flowers’ family confirmed that he died Wednesday at his home in Mississippi, attorney Rob McDuff told The Associated Press Thursday.
麦克达夫是弗劳尔斯法律团队的一员，他表示，目前尚未公布死因。
No cause of death was given, said McDuff, who was part of Flowers’ legal team.
1996年7月，密西西比州维诺纳市一家家具店内发生枪击事件，四人被杀。几个月后，当时26岁的弗劳尔斯被捕。
Flowers was 26 when he was arrested several months after the July 1996 shooting deaths of four people inside a Winona, Mississippi, furniture store.
当时，检察官称他是一名心怀不满的前雇员，因被店主解雇且大部分工资被扣用以赔偿他损坏的商品而向店主复仇。案发现场发现近300美元现金不翼而飞。
At the time, prosecutors described him as a disgruntled former employee who sought revenge against the store’s owner because she fired him and withheld most of his pay to cover the cost of merchandise he damaged. Nearly $300 was found missing after the killings.
弗劳尔斯因这起谋杀案共经历了六次审判。2019年，最高法院以7票对2票作出裁决，大法官布雷特·卡瓦诺在判决意见中写道，排除黑人潜在陪审员的做法剥夺了弗劳尔斯获得公正审判的权利。
Flowers was tried in the killings six times. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the high court’s 7-2 decision in 2019 that the removal of Black prospective jurors deprived Flowers of a fair trial.
在2010年的第六次审判中，弗劳尔斯被判处死刑。当时，地区检察官道格·埃文斯排除了五名黑人潜在陪审员，最终由11名白人和1名黑人陪审员审理此案。
During the sixth trial in 2010, Flowers was sentenced to death . There were 11 white jurors and one Black juror who considered the case after District Attorney Doug Evans struck five Black prospective jurors.
由于弗劳尔斯仍面临起诉，最高法院的裁决下达后，他仍在监狱中服刑了六个月。直到2019年12月，一名法官批准其保释后，他才最终获释。2020年9月，密西西比州撤销了对弗劳尔斯的指控。
Flowers remained in prison for six months after the Supreme Court ruling because he was still under indictment. He finally was released in December 2019 after a judge set bond. Mississippi dropped charges against Flowers in September 2020.
“今天，我终于摆脱了那场将我囚禁在箱子里近二十三年的不公，”弗劳尔斯在一份声明中说道。“人们曾问我是否想过这一天会到来。我何其幸运，拥有一个从未放弃我的家庭。有他们在身边，我知道这一天终会到来。”
“Today, I am finally free from the injustice that left me locked in a box for nearly twenty three years,” Flowers said in a statement. “I’ve been asked if I ever thought this day would come. I have been blessed with a family that never gave up on me and with them by my side, I knew it would.”
代表弗劳尔斯超过二十年的法律团队周四在一份声明中表示，每位成员都感到“有幸能称他为客户”。
The legal team that represented Flowers for more than two decades said Thursday in a statement that each member feels “privileged to have called him a client.”
“后来，在他获释并被宣告无罪后的多年里，我们同样感到荣幸能称他为朋友，”该法律团队表示。“无论他身在何处——无论是死囚牢房，还是在家中父母家的门廊上翘着腿，在教堂里唱歌，或在当地的池塘里钓鱼——柯蒂斯都散发着他的光芒。”这些审判持续了超过20年。记录显示，埃文斯“不遗余力、坚定不移地努力让陪审团中没有黑人成员”，其目标是组建一个全白人的陪审团，卡瓦诺写道。
“Later, in the years after his release and exoneration, we felt equally honored to call him a friend,” the legal team said. “No matter where he was — on death row, at home on his parents’ porch with his feet up, singing in church, or fishing in a local pond — Curtis shared his light.”The trials stretched back more than 20 years. The records showed Evans’ “relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of black individuals,” with the goal of an all-white jury, Kavanaugh wrote.
在早期的审判中，三项定罪被推翻，其中包括一起检察官不当排除黑人陪审员的案件。在第二次审判中，法官批评埃文斯基于种族原因排除了一名陪审员。另外两次审判则以陪审员无法达成一致裁决而告终。
In the earlier trials, three convictions were tossed out, including one when the prosecutor improperly excluded African Americans from the jury. In the second trial, the judge chided Evans for striking a juror based on race. Two other trials ended when jurors couldn’t reach unanimous verdicts.
卡瓦诺指出，在六次审判中，埃文斯排除了42名潜在黑人陪审员中的41人。
Kavanaugh noted that Evans had removed 41 of the 42 prospective black jurors over the six trials.
弗劳尔斯于2021年对埃文斯以及三名与地区检察官合作的调查员提起诉讼。该诉讼声称，埃文斯和这些调查员存在不当行为，包括“向证人施压，让他们捏造在谋杀案当天于特定地点看到弗劳尔斯先生的说法”，并忽视了其他可能的嫌疑人。
Flowers filed a lawsuit in 2021 against Evans and three investigators who worked with the district attorney. The suit claimed Evans and the investigators engaged in misconduct, including “pressuring witnesses to fabricate claims about seeing Mr. Flowers in particular locations on the day of the murders” and ignoring other possible suspects.
同年早些时候，一名法官命令密西西比州向弗劳尔斯支付50万美元的冤狱赔偿——这是州法律规定的最高金额，该法律允许每年最多赔偿5万美元，持续10年。
Earlier that year, a judge ordered the state of Mississippi to pay Flowers $500,000 for wrongful imprisonment — the maximum under a state law that allows up to $50,000 a year for 10 years.
埃文斯在担任地区检察官超过30年后于2023年退休。他的陪审团遴选策略多年来一直受到 scrutiny。
Evans retired in 2023 after more than 30 years as district attorney. His jury selection tactics had been scrutinized for years.
弗洛瓦斯的律师团队表示：“弗洛瓦斯的名字已‘镌刻’在美国最高法院的判例之中——这关乎如何在挑选陪审员时争取一场不受种族偏见影响的公正审判。此外，也正因为如此，以及许多其他原因，他的名字同样镌刻在我们的记忆之中——无论是职业上还是个人层面。我们将十分怀念他。”威廉姆斯是美国联社种族与族群团队的成员，他在底特律进行报道。
Flowers’ name is “etched into U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence — about what it means to fight for a fair trial free from racial bias in the selection of jurors,” Flowers’ legal team said. “And also for that, but for so many other reasons, his name is etched into our memories, too — professional and personal. We will miss him.”Williams is a member of AP’s Race & Ethnicity team. He reported from Detroit.