Court Backs Death Row Inmate on Jury Bias

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Mississippi death row inmate who said prosecutors unlawfully excluded Black jurors at his trial, clearing the way for his conviction to be overturned, SCOTUSblog reported.

The 5-4 decision in Pitchford v. Cain, issued May 28, found that Terry Pitchford's lawyers were not given a proper opportunity to challenge the prosecution's stated reasons for striking four Black prospective jurors, CBS News reported.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, according to CBS News and SCOTUSblog. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett dissented.

A breakdown at trial

At issue was the three-step framework the Supreme Court set out in its 1986 decision Batson v. Kentucky, which bars striking jurors because of their race. Under that framework, a defendant must first raise a claim of discrimination, prosecutors must then offer a race-neutral reason, and the defense must finally have a chance to argue that the stated reason is a pretext, SCOTUSblog reported.

In Pitchford's case, "whether due to confusion, oversight, an overly hurried jury selection process, or some other cause, things broke down," Kavanaugh wrote, and the final step "never occurred," according to NBC News.

The 2004 robbery

Pitchford was 18 when he took part in a 2004 robbery of a grocery store in Grenada, Mississippi, in which the owner, Reuben Britt, was killed, CBS News reported. An accomplice, Eric Bullins, fired the fatal shots but was not eligible for the death penalty because he was a juvenile; he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors charged Pitchford with capital murder and sought the death penalty. During jury selection, then-District Attorney Doug Evans struck four of five potential Black jurors, leaving a panel with one Black juror in a county that is 40% Black, according to NBC News and SCOTUSblog.

Evans was also the prosecutor in the case of Curtis Flowers, another Black Mississippi defendant whose conviction the Supreme Court overturned in 2019 after finding Evans had unlawfully excluded Black jurors. Evans resigned as district attorney in 2023, Courthouse News Service reported.

How the case reached the court

A federal district judge ruled for Pitchford and ordered the state to retry or release him, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, citing a federal law that sharply limits federal courts' power to overturn state convictions, SCOTUSblog reported. The Supreme Court reversed the 5th Circuit and returned the case to the lower courts.

Writing in dissent, Gorsuch said the majority "errs on the law and the factual record alike" and had overstepped limits Congress placed on federal review of state cases, according to CBS News. He added that "if the court's decision is mistaken, at least its impact is limited," NBC News reported.

"Mr. Pitchford is now entitled to a fair trial in the state court — one without racial taint in the selection of his jury," Joseph Perkovich, one of Pitchford's lawyers, said in a statement, according to NBC News. A spokeswoman for Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch did not respond to NBC News' request for comment.

The ruling came during a term in which the justices have repeatedly weighed questions of race and the law, including a separate decision that allowed Alabama to use a congressional map lower courts had found discriminatory. Disputes over racial discrimination recur across American law.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Batson challenge?

A Batson challenge, named for the 1986 Supreme Court case Batson v. Kentucky, is an objection a lawyer raises when they believe the opposing side struck a potential juror because of race. Courts use a three-step process to decide whether the strike was discriminatory.

What did the Supreme Court decide in Pitchford v. Cain?

By a 5-4 vote, the court held that Terry Pitchford's lawyers were not given a proper opportunity to argue that the prosecution's race-neutral reasons for striking Black jurors were a pretext. It reversed a lower appeals court and sent the case back.

Will Terry Pitchford be released?

Not automatically. The decision returns the case to the lower courts and revives a ruling that invalidated his conviction. Prosecutors could seek to retry him; if they do not, the state would have to release him.

Who is Doug Evans?

Doug Evans is the former Mississippi district attorney who prosecuted Pitchford. He also tried Curtis Flowers, whose conviction the Supreme Court overturned in 2019 over the exclusion of Black jurors. Evans resigned as district attorney in 2023.

Sources

Reporting compiled from court records and the cited source outlets.