Supreme Court rules in favor of Mississippi death row inmate over jury racial bias

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in favor of Terry Pitchford, a Black death row inmate from Mississippi, who alleged racial bias in the jury that convicted him. The decision, made by a 5-4 vote, highlighted that there was only one Black juror in Pitchford's trial, which is similar to another case involving a Black man on death row whose conviction was overturned by the court seven years ago. Doug Evans, the prosecutor in Pitchford's case, had previously dismissed four Black jurors. The Supreme Court's ruling in Batson v. Kentucky established that jurors cannot be excluded based on race. The case examined whether Pitchford's lawyers adequately challenged the trial judge's decisions and whether the state Supreme Court's ruling was reasonable. Pitchford was convicted for his involvement in the 1996 murder of grocery store owner Reuben Britt. In 2023, U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills overturned Pitchford's conviction, citing insufficient opportunity for his lawyers to contest the dismissal of Black jurors, but this ruling was later reversed by a unanimous panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.