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Four people killed at Tardy Furniture store
Owner Bertha Tardy, 59, and employees Carmen Rigby, 45, Derrick “Bobo” Stewart, 16, and Robert Golden, 42, are shot in the head at Tardy Furniture store in Winona, MS. Tardy, Rigby and Golden die on the scene; Stewart dies a week later after never regaining consciousness. -
Curtis Giovanni Flowers arrested in Texas
Curtis Giovanni Flowers is arrested in Plano, Texas, where he had moved from Winona after the murders. He was working as a stock clerk at a supermarket. -
Flowers is convicted at first trial held in Tupelo
Curtis Flowers was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Bertha Tardy. The trial had been moved to Tupelo. -
Flowers is convicted a second time
Flowers is convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Bobo Stewart at a trial held in Gulfport. -
Miss. Supreme Court throws out first conviction
The Mississippi Supreme Court overturns Flowers' first conviction for the murder of Bertha Tardy. The court held Prosecutor Doug Evans unfairly referred to the other three murders during the trial. The court later orders a new trial. -
Miss. Supreme Court overturns second conviction
The state Supreme Court throws out Flowers' second conviction on the murder of Stewart. The court ruled prosecutors made similar errors to the first trial, where all four homicides were referred to despite Flowers being tried on only one count. -
Flowers is convicted a third time and sentenced to death
At the first trial held in Winona and the first time Flowers was tried on all four capital murder counts, he is convicted and sentenced to death. -
Miss. Supreme Court overturns Flowers' third conviction
In a 5-4 decision, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturns Flowers' third conviction. The majority found the prosecution used its strikes of potential jurors in a racially discriminatory way. All 15 jurors eliminated by the prosecution were black. -
Fourth trial ends in mistrial
Flowers' fourth capital murder trial -- and his second on all four counts -- ends in a mistrial in Winona. The prosecution had not sought the death penalty. The jury is split by race: all seven whites vote for a conviction andall five blacks for an acquittal. -
An alternate juror is arrested and charged with perjury on first day of fifth trial
Mary Purnell, a black alternate juror, is arrested and charged with perjury after it is found she made contact with Flowers and his family before the trial. Her name was found on Flowers' visitors' list at jail. She had sworn she did not know Flowers or his family. -
Fifth trial ends in mistrial
Once again, a jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict at a death penalty trial on all four counts in Winona. The vote is 11-1, and Judge Joseph Loper, orders the arrest of the lone holdout, James Bibbs, on charges of perjury. Another juror reported Bibbs said he witnessed evidence being planted on the day of the murders. Bibbs denies the claim and the state attorney general later dismisses the charges. -
Bill in state Legislature to allow expanded jury pool fails
State Sen. Lydia Chassaniol, R-Winona, had introduced a bill that would have allowed a circuit court to expand the jury pool to all the counties in its circuit if three trials ended in a mistrial or hung jury. The bill dies in a House committee. -
Perjury charges against Bibbs dropped
The state attorney general's officer determined there wasn't enough evidence to convict juror James Bibbs of perjury and dismisses charges. -
Purnell pleads guilty to perjury, gets 15 months
On the day her trial on two counts of perjury is to begin in Belzoni, alternate juror from the fifth trial Mary Purnell pleads guilty. She is sentenced to serve 15 months followed by two years of probation. She admitted to lying under oath about having contact with Flowers and his family before the trial. -
Flowers moved to Leflore County Jail
Flowers is transferred from the Vaiden jail to Leflore County after a pre-trial hearing. Carroll County Sheriff Jerry Carver tells the Winona Times that he requested the transfer after jailers intercepted communication revealing a non-intimate relationship between Flowers and a female guard, who resigns. -
Sixth trial will begin
600 jurors have been called to report for the sixth trial, which will be held in Winona. The death penalty will again be on the table. It will be the first time in U.S history that the same person has been tried six times on the same murder charges, according to blogger and activist Alan Bean.