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A compulsively readable insider’s account of the most prosecuted case in American law—and what it tells us about race bias in jury selection.
Curtis Flowers, a Black man from Mississippi, stood trial six times over more than two decades for a crime he did not commit—repeatedly facing nearly all-white juries after the prosecutor repeatedly struck Black jurors.
From a member of Flowers’s defense team, The Color of Conviction is a deeply reported, riveting examination of the case that gripped the nation and exposed the fatal flaw in how we choose our juries. Tucker Carrington draws on historical evidence and firsthand experience to reveal how prosecutors continue to shape juries along racial lines, despite the Supreme Court’s hollow safeguards and faith in fair play.
Incisive and urgent, this book moves beyond tracing Flowers’s fight for justice. It challenges us to reckon with the central role of race in our society, and forces us to confront a troubling question: What does a fair trial really mean when race and justice are inextricably bound?
Tucker Carrington is Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law and director of the George C. Cochran Innocence Project. He is coauthor of The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South.
“What makes this book so singular—and necessary—is its overarching narrative: a beautiful, deftly woven history that points the way from our racist past to the possibility of a better future. And it leads us to engage a profound and sacred truth: we are all part of this together.”—Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, author of Dead Man Walking
“Carrington tells Flowers's story with the legal precision of an elite innocence lawyer, but also with a warm and relatable humanity, a dry wit, and the earned indignation of a lifelong brawler for justice.”—Radley Balko, author of Rise of the Warrior Cop and coauthor (with Tucker Carrington) of The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist
“Southern gothic meets John Grisham, The Color of Conviction shatters the halls of justice with the epic story of how the most prosecuted Black man in US history took his case all the way to the Supreme Court. Inspiring and infuriating, this very necessary book might send you to law school, or to the local courthouse to throw a brick.”—Paul Butler, author of Chokehold: Policing Black Men
“A remarkable exposé and analysis of the many ways in which racial prejudice is deployed or tolerated in the selection of juries and, indeed, the administration of criminal law generally. It is clearly written, well organized, full of vivid facts, and anchored by deep knowledge of relevant law. Carrington’s book is an excellent, albeit sobering, excavation of a long-running scandal in American criminal ‘justice.’”—Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor at Harvard Law School and author of Race, Crime, and the Law
“Carrington, a diviner of innocence, devoted historian, and Southern-style raconteur, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The Color of Conviction, his kinetic telling of Curtis Flowers’s legal odyssey, keeps you amped, entertained, and outraged, as it gently breaks your heart—and proves that our system of justice must do better.”—Dean King, New York Times best-selling author of Skeletons on the Zahara and Guardians of the Valley
“Curating little-known backstories from Winona, Mississippi, and leading constitutional cases like Dred Scott and Batson v. Kentucky, The Color of Conviction connects the dots of Jim Crow–era courthouse practices to the unprecedented six prosecutions of Curtis Flowers and his eventual exoneration.”—Henderson Hill, Codirector, RedressNC; Founder, 8th Amendment Project; and former Senior Counsel, ACLU