Mississippi: Death Penalty Sought for Dark-Skinned Gent Who Shot and Killed Two White Cops

Marquis Flowers.

It’s because he’s black, isn’t it?

This is just pure hatred for the color of the epidermis.

WREG:

A Mississippi prosecutor confirms he will seek the death penalty for a man indicted in the 2018 shooting deaths of two police officers.

Marquis Flowers, 26, on Tuesday made his first appearance in state court since being indicted on capital murder charges, and he pleaded not guilty. The indictments were handed down Oct. 28 but were first publicly released Tuesday.

Brookhaven Police Department Cpl. Zach Moak, 31, and Patrolman James White, 35, were shot to death Sept. 29, 2018, while responding to a call about shots being fired at a home.

District Attorney Dee Bates said after Tuesday’s hearing that he will pursue the death penalty. Prosecutors previously said that was a possibility.

A trial could be at least several months away. Bates said prosecutors are awaiting results of ballistics tests from the state crime lab. He also said a judge will decide later whether the case will be tried in Lincoln County, where the shootings occurred.

Judges sometimes move high-profile cases to other counties. They also sometimes decide to choose jurors in another county and bring them to the place where a crime occurred to hear the case.

Flowers is already in state prison. He has previous felony convictions but was out when the officers were killed. His parole was revoked after he was arrested in the killings.

Zack Moak, left, and James White.