Mississippi prosecutor who excluded Black jurors is resigning after more than 30 years

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A white Mississippi district attorney whose practice of excluding Black people from juries caused the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a man’s conviction and death sentence is resigning after more than 30 years. Doug Evans is stepping down Friday. That’s six months before his term ends. Evans tried Curtis Flowers six times in the 1996 shooting deaths of four people. Evans’ exclusion of Black jurors caused the Supreme Court to overturn Flowers’ final conviction in June 2019. Flowers was released from prison six months later. Mississippi dropped charges against him in September 2020.