The Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction and death sentence of a Mississippi man after finding prosecutors improperly excluded Black jurors from his trial, marking a significant application of constitutional protections against racial discrimination in jury selection.

Split Decision Invalidates Conviction

In a 5-4 ruling, the Court sided with Terry Pitchford, now on death row for a 2004 robbery-murder in Grenada, Mississippi. Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett dissented. The decision permits Mississippi to retry Pitchford but invalidates his current conviction and death sentence.

Pitchford was 18 when he and 16-year-old Eric Bullins robbed a grocery store, resulting in the shooting death of the White owner, Reuben Britt. Bullins fired the fatal shots but received only 20 years in prison because his age made him ineligible for capital punishment. Prosecutors sought the death penalty against Pitchford for capital murder.

Jury Selection Violations At Trial

During jury selection, then-District Attorney Doug Evans used peremptory strikes to exclude four of five potential Black jurors. Defense attorneys objected under Batson v. Kentucky, the landmark 1986 Supreme Court decision prohibiting race-based juror exclusion. Evans claimed race-neutral reasons for the strikes: one prospective juror returned 15 minutes late from lunch, two had brothers with violent crime convictions, and the fourth was young, unmarried, and a father like Pitchford.

The trial judge accepted these explanations without allowing defense attorneys to challenge them as pretextual, a required step under Batson procedures. A jury of 11 White members and one Black member convicted Pitchford and imposed the death penalty. Kavanaugh wrote that proper trial procedures broke down due to confusion, oversight, or excessive haste during jury selection, despite defense counsel’s repeated efforts to preserve the objection.

Path Through Federal Courts

The Mississippi Supreme Court initially upheld the conviction on appeal. A federal district court later sided with Pitchford and overturned his conviction, finding the trial court appeared eager to proceed and quickly deemed the prosecution’s reasons race-neutral without proper scrutiny. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision, leading to the Supreme Court appeal.

Justice Gorsuch argued in dissent that Pitchford failed to meet the demanding standard for federal relief, claiming the majority erred on both law and facts. He emphasized the decision applies narrowly only to Pitchford’s case. The ruling reinforces constitutional protections against racial discrimination in criminal proceedings while highlighting the procedural requirements trial courts must follow when evaluating jury selection challenges.