WINONA — Circuit Judge Joseph Loper will be spending his Sunday deciding whether a gunshot residue test performed on Curtis Giovanni Flowers is admissible in court.
Flowers’ defense argued Saturday that residue collected from Flowers’ hand was too small to be considered significant and should be suppressed. The judge had already allowed a temporary suspension of discussion of that piece of evidence.
A single particle of gunshot primer residue was located on Flowers’ right hand on July 16, 1996, the day four people were fatally shot at Tardy Furniture store.
The residue was in a location consistent with firing a handgun, according to firearms expert David Balash.
The prosecution said the evidence was relevant and should be considered.
They added that the small amount collected was consistent with the time that had elapsed between the shooting and testing.
Flowers is accused of the 1996 murders of Tardy Furniture owner, Bertha Tardy, 59, and employees Carmen Rigby, 45, Robert Golden, 42, and Derrick "BoBo" Stewart, 16. All four victims were shot in the head inside the downtown Winona business where Flowers had worked briefly.
Flowers, who is being tried for a sixth time, faces the death penalty if convicted. Three convictions have been thrown out by the state Supreme Court, and twice juries have been unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
Balash said Saturday that from his investigation markings on each of the five .38-caliber bullets collected from the murder scene were consistent with being fired from the same weapon.
The prosecution asked him how sure he was that they were discharged from the same gun.
"I have to be 100 percent sure for me to give that opinion," Balash said.
He also said bullets collected at the home of Doyle Simpson, a relative of Flowers, were consistent with the patterns found on the bullets from Tardy's.
The defense argued that another .38-caliber pistol could have made similar markings. Balash said that not all .38 caliber pistols would leave the same markings but some of them would.
Later, the prosecution attempted to connect Flowers to Simpson's gun.
Bill Thornberg, who worked as a deputy sheriff at the time of the murders, said he responded to a call of a stolen handgun on the morning of the slayings. Thornberg received the call while he was still on scene at Tardy's.
Before the call, he said he had picked up a shell casing and noted the bullet was a .38-caliber.
When he arrived and spoke to Simpson, he discovered the stolen handgun was a .38-caliber pistol as well. He said for that reason he collected bullets shot into a stump at Simpson's home.
Thornberg said he did not file a report nor was he asked to file a report on the stolen gun.
Simpson's gun has never been recovered.
Melissa Schoene, an investigator with the State Crime Lab at the time of the murder, testified Friday about her investigation. She explained the location of the bodies and some of the evidence she collected while on scene.
The prosecution also called Katherine Snow, who said she saw Flowers leaning against Simpson's vehicle on the morning of the crimes.
She did not come forward immediately after the murders. Snow said that was because she was scared, but there was "no doubt in my mind" that she saw Flowers.
"I was scared," she said. "I didn't want to come home and find my kids face down."
She did not tell investigators she recognized Flowers by name until after she pointed him out in a photo lineup.
The defense asked her if she had been exposed to the photo lineup before or after a $30,000 reward was offered for information related to the case.
She said she was not sure but whether she had or not would not influence her decision to testify.
"No money is worth anybody's life to me," Snow said.
Another witness, Elaine Gholston, said Flowers owned a pair of Fila Grant Hill tennis shoes, the brand of shoes that investigators determined left bloody tracks at the murder scene.
She said it was a popular shoe, and "they stood out." She said she did not remember if he was wearing the shoes the morning of the killings when she said she saw him outside.
Patricia Sullivan, who lived near Flowers, said she did see Flowers wearing Grant Hill Filas the morning of the murder.
She claims to have seen Flowers twice, once smoking a cigarette outside a little before 5 a.m. and the second time walking back to his home at about 7:30 a.m.
"He was walking in a fast motion coming across the hill," Sullivan said.
She said that she was "real close" to Flowers and was bothered when she was ignored by Flowers when greeting him. Sullivan said that was unusual for Flowers, who she said had been friendly toward her in the past.
Defense attorney Ray Charles Carter asked if Sullivan regularly paid such close attention to footwear. She said she had noticed the shoes because it was Flowers' pair that had prompted her to buy the same kind for her children.
Carter asked her if she could identify any other shoes that Flowers owned or had worn.
"I don't be watching that man's feet every time I see him," she responded.
Thornberg said during a check of Flowers' then-residence at girlfriend Connie Moore's apartment, he found a box for a pair of Fila Grant Hill tennis shoes. He said there was nothing in the box, which was not taken on the first visit.
He later returned to collect the empty shoe box for evidence. The shoe size labeled on the box fit the size of the footprint left on the scene.
After court recessed, a small verbal altercation occurred between members of Friends of Justice, a Texas-based nonprofit organization that believes Flowers is innocent, and a few family members of the victims.
Alan Bean, executive director of Friends of Justice, said he hopes to avoid such conflicts in the future.
"I hope they were able to vent," Bean said. "They are so convinced of their position. I don't think they've been confronted by someone that is adamant about the other side."
Witness testimony will continue at 9 a.m. Monday.
• Contact Taylor Kuykendall at tkuykendall@gwcommonwealth.com.
