Mississippi man freed from prison after murder convictions overturned gets married
Published 2:28 pm Monday, March 22, 2021
A Mississippi man who was wrongfully imprisoned for more than two decades and spent years on death row has wed his fiancée, a little more than a year after being freed.
Curtis Flowers married Marlena Wright on Saturday during a private ceremony in Grenada, WTVA-TV reported.
Flowers, a Black man, was released from prison in December 2019, months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Black jurors were excluded from his trials in a 1996 quadruple murder at a Winona furniture store. He was tried six times in total.
A post on a website announcing the couple’s marriage said the two were looking forward to starting their life together following Flowers’ release.
“In cheerleading for Curtis, as we all have, God allowed us to meet after freedom came Curtis’ way,” WTVA quoted the post as saying. “Curtis said to me, ‘I’ve been waiting for you. You will be my future.’ The rest is history.”
Flowers was convicted twice for individual slayings and twice for all four killings. Two other trials ended in mistrials. Each of his convictions were later overturned, including his death sentence.
Earlier this month, a judge ordered the state to pay $500,000 to Flowers.