Washington — Washington (AFP) – supreme court On Thursday, he ruled for A black death row inmate from Mississippi Who claims there was racial bias in the composition of the jury that convicted him.
By a vote of 5 to 4, the justices sided with Terry Pitchford, who was sentenced to death for his role in the murder of a grocery store owner.
There was a black juror in a trial similar to that of another black man on death row in Mississippi, whose conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court seven years ago.
Doug Evansa now-retired prosecutor with a history of dismissing black jurors for discriminatory reasons, excused four more black people.
The Supreme Court ruled 40 years ago Batson vs. Kentucky That jurors cannot be excused from service because of their race and that a system be established by which trial judges can evaluate claims of discrimination and race-neutral interpretations by prosecutors.
Pitchford’s case focused on whether his lawyers did enough to object to Judge Joseph Loeber’s rulings and whether the state Supreme Court acted reasonably in ruling when they did not.
In 2019, the US Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and conviction Curtis FlowersBecause of what Justice Brett Kavanaugh described As a “relentless and determined effort to rid the jury pool of black individuals.” Evans was the prosecutor in that case, and Loper presided over the final two of Flowers’ six trials.
Pitchford, now 40, was 18 when he and a friend decided to rob Crossroads Grocery, outside Grenada, in North Mississippi. The friend shot store owner Robin Britt three times, fatally wounding him, but he was ineligible for the death penalty because he was younger than 18. Pitchford was tried for murder and sentenced to death.
The case has been working its way through the court system for 20 years. In 2023, U.S. District Judge Michael B. Mills Pitchford’s conviction was overturnedarguing that the trial judge did not give Pitchford’s attorneys sufficient opportunity to argue that the prosecution was improperly dismissing black jurors.
Mills wrote that his ruling was motivated in part by Evans’ actions in previous cases. Unanimous committee of Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals Overturn the ruling.
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