Supreme Court Delivers Shocking Ruling Over Alleged Racial Bias that Led to a Black Man on Death Row
The highest court in the country just delivered a promising ruling for a Mississippi Black man on death row who has spent the last 20 years fighting for his freedom. The high-profile case has revived concerns of racial bias that could have impacted his 2006 trial… But it’s still a long way to go on Terry Pitchford’s road to freedom.
Pitchford, 40, tried his luck in front of the Supreme Court in April after arguing his constitutional rights were violated due to serious racial discrimination. He’s spent the last two decades waiting for his execution date, which remains unscheduled, according to a March SCOTUS Blog.
His sentence was handed down in connection with the 2004 shooting death of Reuben Britt.
At 18 years old, Pitchford and one of his friends– a minor at the time– walked into a local store with the intentions of robbing it. During the heist, Pitchford’s friend shot and killed Britt, but because of felony murder laws, Pitchford was also held responsible for the murder.
His trial was riddled with controversy, however. For one, given his friend’s status as a minor at the time, he was ineligible for the death penalty. But in Pitchford’s case, a well-known district attorney was prepared to throw the book at him.
DA Doug Evans, who is now retired, has a long history of questionable conduct in court. Back in 2019, he even appeared before the Supreme Court for illegally striking Black jurors while prosecuting another Black man charged with murder, Curtis Flowers. The high court ruled in favor of Flowers after he endured six trials, four death sentences and 23 years behind bars for the same crime, according to Cornell University.
At the time of the 2019 ruling, seven of the current nine justices had already been appointed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Justice Brett Kavanaugh then described the DA’s actions as a “relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of Black individuals.”
Pitchford’s legal team brought up Flowers’ case to help prove an illegal pattern against the former DA in addition to evidence demonstrating alleged bias from Evans in the case against Pitchford.
After hearing arguments back in April, SCOTUS “seemed sympathetic” to Pitchford’s case. Now, the high court has sided with him in a 5-4 majority.
“Whether due to confusion, oversight, an overly hurried jury selection process, or some other cause, things broke down,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a nine-page opinion for the majority. “The Mississippi Supreme Court’s conclusion that Pitchford waived his opportunity to rebut the prosecutor’s proffered race-neutral reasons was unreasonable.”
A jury pool of 126 was summoned for Pitchford’s initial trial, including about 40 Black folks, the Death Penalty Information Center reported. As the jury pool dwindled down, however, his team claimed DA Evans used his peremptory strikes to get rid of the final four potential Black jurors, the Death Penalty Center also reported. Defense lawyers took issue with this at the time, but according to the judge, Evans acted in a “race-neutral” manner.
In the end, Pitchford was found guilty by a mostly white jury– with only one Black juror– and sentenced to death, despite never killing anyone himself.
In 2023, Pitchford challenged his conviction in federal court, where a federal judge ruled in his favor. Still, a 2025 ruling rejected his claim, forcing him to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
The high court’s ruling this week doesn’t automatically mean the Mississippi man can walk free, however, according to the SCOTUS Blog. But it certainly sets the stage for his conviction to be overturned. Now, Pitchford’s case will head back to the lower courts, where that 2023 federal judge’s ruling will stand.
Once that ruling is reinstated, prosecutors can retry Pitchford. If not, the state must set him free.
