BROOKHAVEN, Miss. (AP) - A judge ruled Thursday that a jury from a different part of Mississippi will hear the death penalty trial of a man charged in the 2018 shooting deaths of two Brookhaven police officers.
Marquis Flowers is charged with capital murder in the deaths of Cpl. Zach Moak, 31, and patrol officer James White, 35. They were shot to death Sept. 29, 2018, while responding to a call about shots being fired at a home.
The Daily Leader reported that Circuit Judge Richard W. McKenzie on Thursday granted a request by Flowers’ attorney for a change of venue, either by moving the trial or by choosing jurors elsewhere and taking them to Lincoln County.
McKenzie said he would let prosecutors, defense attorneys and court administrators decide what to do. The judge suggested they look at the northernmost counties of Mississippi. Lincoln County is in the southwestern part of the state, near the Louisiana state line.
Flowers, who turns 28 this week, is due back in court Jan. 26, when attorneys are expected to tell McKenzie about their venue decision and possible trial dates.
Flowers was on parole for a vehicle burglary conviction when Moak and White were killed. Flowers was arrested and charged shortly after the officers were killed, and he was sent to the state prison system to finish serving that sentence. Flowers was moved March 23 from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility to a county jail.
On Oct. 28, 2019, Flowers was indicted on two counts of capital murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He pleaded not guilty to all three counts on Nov. 12, 2019.
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