Curtis Flowers – a Black man who has been tried an unprecedented six times for the same crime, despite a lack of evidence linking him to the event – will not have to undergo a seventh trial. After spending 23 years in prison, Flowers no longer has to worry about facing the stresses of another trial or being put back behind bars. He can live out his life with his family, friends, and community.

The Mississippi Center for Justice started defending Flowers after the Supreme Court overturned his guilty verdict in the sixth trial. Since then, we helped Flowers get released on bail so he could be with his family as he awaited a potential seventh trial. We also filed a motion to remove District Attorney Doug Evans from the case due to his gross prosecutorial misconduct in Flowers’ six prior trials. He eventually recused himself. We filed a third motion to dismiss the case entirely as well – which happened today.

We are thrilled that Flowers is a free man, and honored to have helped lead the effort to end this shameful miscarriage of justice. But as we celebrate, we must remember that justice came more than two decades late. And we must remember that far too many Americans, particularly people of color, are put behind bars unfairly all across this country.

This battle may be over, but our fight to dismantle Mississippi’s culture of injustice goes on. From voting rights to fair housing, from access to education to criminal justice reform, the Mississippi Center for Justice is on the frontlines of the push to make our state better, fairer, and more humane.

Help us continue the fights of today — and prepare for the ones yet to come.