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Supreme Court reverses Mississippi death sentence over jury selection bias

Supreme Court reverses Mississippi death sentence over jury selection bias

Rule Changes

Pitchford v. Cain revives Batson scrutiny after Mississippi struck four of five Black jurors at a 2006 capital trial

Yesterday: Supreme Court reverses 5-4

Overview

Terry Pitchford has sat on Mississippi's death row for nearly two decades. On May 28, 2026, the Supreme Court threw out his conviction and ordered the state to start over, ruling 5-4 that the prosecutor's jury selection violated his constitutional rights.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion. He was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the Court's three liberals, while Justices Gorsuch, Thomas, Alito, and Barrett dissented. The ruling restores teeth to Batson v. Kentucky, the 1986 case that barred prosecutors from striking jurors based on race.

Why it matters

State courts cannot use procedural shortcuts to dodge claims of racial bias in jury selection. Defendants get a clearer path to challenge prosecutors' strikes.

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Key Indicators

5-4
Vote margin
Kavanaugh and Roberts joined the three liberal justices; Gorsuch, Thomas, Alito, and Barrett dissented.
4 of 5
Black jurors struck
The prosecutor used peremptory strikes against four of the five Black potential jurors in the venire.
11-1
Final jury composition
Eleven white jurors and one Black juror convicted Pitchford in 2006.
20 years
Time on death row
Pitchford has been awaiting execution since his 2006 conviction in Grenada County.
1986
Batson precedent year
Batson v. Kentucky set the three-step framework for evaluating race-based peremptory strikes.

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People Involved

Terry Pitchford
Terry Pitchford
Conviction vacated, awaiting state's decision on retrial
 Brett Kavanaugh
Brett Kavanaugh
Author of the majority opinion
 Neil Gorsuch
Neil Gorsuch
Author of the dissent
 Doug Evans
Doug Evans
Prosecutor in both Pitchford and Curtis Flowers trials
 John G. Roberts Jr.
John G. Roberts Jr.
Joined the majority

Organizations Involved

Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Federal court
Issued the controlling decision

The nation's highest court, which granted certiorari in 2025 and reversed the Fifth Circuit.
Mississippi Supreme Court
Mississippi Supreme Court
State supreme court
Decision held unreasonable by US Supreme Court

The state high court that upheld Pitchford's conviction and ruled he had forfeited his Batson challenge.
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Federal appellate court
Reversed by Supreme Court

The federal appeals court covering Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, which had reinstated Pitchford's conviction.

Timeline

April 1986 May 2026

11 events Latest: Yesterday Showing 8 of 11
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  1. Supreme Court reverses 5-4

    Latest Ruling

    Kavanaugh, joined by Roberts, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, holds the Mississippi Supreme Court unreasonably applied Batson. Conviction vacated; case remanded.

  2. Oral argument

    Legal

    Justices probe whether the trial record shows defense counsel was actually given a chance to rebut the prosecutor's race-neutral reasons.

  3. Supreme Court grants certiorari

    Legal

    The justices agree to hear Pitchford's challenge, with briefing focused on whether the state court's Batson ruling deserved AEDPA deference.

  4. Fifth Circuit reverses

    Legal

    The federal appeals court reinstates Pitchford's conviction, holding the Mississippi Supreme Court's ruling was not unreasonable under AEDPA's deferential standard.

  5. Federal district court grants habeas relief

    Legal

    A federal judge in Mississippi rules the Batson violation undermined Pitchford's conviction and orders a new trial.

  6. Flowers v. Mississippi decided

    Precedent

    The US Supreme Court overturns the murder conviction of Curtis Flowers, prosecuted by the same Doug Evans, citing a pattern of striking Black jurors. Kavanaugh writes the 7-2 opinion.

  7. Mississippi Supreme Court affirms conviction

    Legal

    On direct appeal, the state high court holds Pitchford waived his Batson challenge by not pressing it further at trial.

  8. Pitchford convicted, sentenced to death

    Legal

    An 11-1 white jury finds Pitchford guilty of capital murder. Bullins, ineligible for the death penalty as a minor, receives 20 years.

  9. Capital trial and Batson dispute

    Legal

    District Attorney Doug Evans uses peremptory strikes on four of five Black potential jurors. The trial court accepts his race-neutral reasons; the colloquy ends before the defense rebuts.

  10. Grenada grocery store robbery and killing

    Incident

    Terry Pitchford, 18, and Eric Bullins, 16, rob the Crossroads Grocery near Grenada, Mississippi. Bullins shoots and kills the owner, Reuben Britt.

  11. Supreme Court decides Batson v. Kentucky

    Precedent

    The Court bars prosecutors from striking jurors on the basis of race and creates a three-step framework for raising and rebutting such challenges.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

April 1986

Batson v. Kentucky (1986)

James Batson, a Black man, was tried for burglary in Kentucky after the prosecutor used peremptory strikes to remove all four Black potential jurors. The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the Equal Protection Clause forbids race-based strikes.

Then

Batson's conviction was vacated and the Court created a three-step test for raising and rebutting race-discrimination claims in jury selection.

Now

The Batson framework became the central tool defendants use to challenge prosecutor strikes, though enforcement has been inconsistent for four decades.

Why this matters now

Pitchford is a direct application of Batson's step three, where the defense must be allowed to rebut the prosecutor's race-neutral reasons. The Mississippi courts skipped that step.

May 2016

Foster v. Chatman (2016)

Timothy Foster, a Black death-row prisoner in Georgia, obtained prosecutors' jury-selection notes through an open-records request. The notes highlighted every Black juror's name in green and ranked them by who to strike first.

Then

The Supreme Court ruled 7-1 that the strikes were racially motivated and vacated Foster's death sentence.

Now

Foster set a high-water mark for proving Batson violations with documentary evidence; most cases lack such smoking guns.

Why this matters now

Foster showed the Court would dig into trial records to find Batson violations. Pitchford extends that scrutiny to procedural rulings that effectively block defendants from making their case.

June 2019

Flowers v. Mississippi (2019)

Curtis Flowers was tried six times for the same 1996 quadruple murder by District Attorney Doug Evans, the same prosecutor in Pitchford. Across the six trials, Evans struck 41 of 42 prospective Black jurors. The Supreme Court overturned the sixth conviction 7-2.

Then

Flowers was released after charges were dropped in 2020. Justice Kavanaugh, writing for the majority, called the prosecutor's pattern of strikes 'relentless.'

Now

The Flowers ruling put Evans's office under national scrutiny and amplified calls to reform peremptory strikes entirely. Several states have since limited their use.

Why this matters now

Evans prosecuted both Flowers and Pitchford. Kavanaugh wrote both majority opinions. The pattern documented in Flowers gave context to Pitchford's claim that the strikes in his own case were not innocent.

Sources

(6)
US Supreme Court CBS News PBS NewsHour SCOTUSblog Justia NBC News