WINONA – As the prosecution and the defense appealed to jurors Saturday afternoon as to their decision of life in jail or death for Curtis Giovanni Flowers, Flowers’ attorney, Allison Steiner, begged the panel to “Be better than Curtis Flowers.”
That same jury unanimously found Flowers guilty Friday afternoon of the execution-style murders of Tardy Furniture store owner Bertha Tardy, 59, and three employees Carmen Rigby, 45, Derrick “BoBo” Stewart, 16, and Robert Golden, 42, on July 16, 1996.
“I understand you found him guilty without a reasonable doubt,” Steiner said to the jury. “…But you have a choice…you have the vote to kill [Flowers] or to vote for mercy…be better than Curtis Flowers who had the choice of whether or not to kill and he chose to kill.”
The jury later unanimously voted for the death penalty for Flowers.
Friday saw the emotional end to a long and exhausting two weeks for friends and family members of the victims, as attorneys for the defense and the State made their closing arguments.
After receiving their instructions from Judge Joseph H. Loper, Jr., jurors took less than 30 minutes to deliver a guilty verdict for Flowers on four counts of capital murder.
As the verdicts were read one by one by the jury foreman, gasps of shock and relief were heard throughout the packed courtroom as family members of the victims, seated behind the jury box, cried, held hands and consoled one another.
After the jury deliberated and the verdict was read, Loper explained the second phase of the proceeding which was imposing the death penalty or life in prison.
The defense immediately renewed several motions including one to dismiss, which Loper, again denied.
Before the jury was excused to deliberate on the sentence, family members of the victims were allowed to speak, expressing the impact the murders have had on their lives. As they spoke – many through tears – some in the audience, who’d known the victims for most of their lives, also wiped away tears or bowed their heads in grief.
Bertha Tardy’s daughter, Roxanne Ballard, was the first to speak.
Ballard, an only child, talked about living the past 14 years without her mother. Ballard said she was pregnant when her mother was killed and has had another child since then.
“The horror for me started on July 16, 1996,” Ballard said fighting back tears. “…I was a different person before this [incident] crushed my soul. And my children will never know the person I was before. They’ll never know who I was.”
Brian Rigby, Carmen Rigby’s son, said he was 18-years old on July 16, 1996 and preparing to leave for college, “this was supposed to be the happiest time of my life,” he cried. “And it wasn’t.”
The defense also called witnesses to testify as to Flowers character including his parents and his 16-year old daughter, Krystal Gholston, who just learned Flowers was her father two years ago.
Several ministers within the community also testified that Flowers would be an “asset” to other inmates in prison.
The jury was also allowed to see a home video of Flowers singing gospel songs in the church, prior to his arrest in 1997.
After deliberating for nearly an hour Saturday afternoon, at 2:47 p.m., the jury told the judge they could not agree on a sentence. Loper told them ‘not to worry about that,’ and they continued their deliberation.
At 3:35 p.m., the verdict of death was read by Montgomery County Circuit Clerk Lanelle Martin. Several jurors cried as the verdicts were read.
Flowers simply pressed his lips together as the verdicts were read.
Flowers defense team plans to appeal the verdict.
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