Supreme Court to hear Mississippi death penalty case over jury racial bias

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Tuesday in a Mississippi death penalty case that raises questions about racial bias in jury selection. The case involves Terry Pitchford, who was sentenced to death in 2004 for the killing of Reuben Britt in northern Mississippi.

According to court records and legal filings, Pitchford’s trial jury was selected by prosecutor Doug Evans, a retired prosecutor with a history of dismissing Black jurors for discriminatory reasons. The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld Pitchford’s conviction, despite objections from his defense team that the jury was racially biased. A recent investigation by Mississippi Today detailed the jury selection process in the case.

The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision comes seven years after it overturned the death sentence of Curtis Flowers, another Mississippi inmate, citing a pattern of excluding Black jurors. Justice Brett Kavanaugh described that case as an example of efforts to “rid the jury of Black individuals.”

Pitchford’s case has been in the courts for two decades. In 2023, U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills overturned his conviction, citing insufficient examination of whether race influenced jury dismissals. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later reversed that ruling, reaffirming the conviction.

The case hinges on whether Pitchford’s lawyers adequately challenged the jury selection process. The Supreme Court will decide if the Mississippi courts reasonably rejected claims of racial discrimination. The justices will also consider whether prosecutors improperly excused Black jurors, violating the landmark 1986 ruling in Batson v. Kentucky, which prohibits racial bias in jury selection.

Defense attorneys argue that the trial judge failed to assess whether race was a factor in dismissing Black jurors, while Mississippi officials maintain there was no misconduct. The outcome could influence future cases involving claims of racial bias in jury selection in death penalty trials.

Source: Original Article