The Supreme Court takes up the Mississippi case of a Black death row inmate

Key Points:

• The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the case of Terry Pitchford, a Black death row inmate from Mississippi, who claims racial discrimination in jury selection by prosecutor Doug Evans, who has a history of dismissing Black jurors for discriminatory reasons.
• Pitchford was convicted and sentenced to death for a 2004 capital murder, with the trial judge and Mississippi Supreme Court allowing the prosecution to exclude nearly all Black jurors without properly scrutinizing the reasons given.
• The case echoes the 2019 Curtis Flowers case, where the Supreme Court overturned a conviction due to similar racial bias in jury selection by the same prosecutor and judge, highlighting ongoing concerns about racial discrimination in Mississippi capital cases.
• Central issues before the Court include whether Pitchford’s lawyers sufficiently challenged the jury selection process and whether the state courts reasonably upheld the conviction despite evidence of potential racial bias.
• If Pitchford prevails, he could be released or granted a new trial; Mississippi argues the case should be sent back to its Supreme Court for further review of the discrimination claims.