The U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Terry Pitchford, a Black death-row inmate from Mississippi, overturning his capital-murder conviction. Multiple outlets report that the justices accepted Pitchford’s claim that racial bias affected the makeup of the jury that convicted him. The decision is reported as a 5–4 vote, with the majority siding with Pitchford and the dissenting justices opposing. Pitchford was sentenced to death for his role in the killing of a grocery store owner, according to the coverage. Several reports describe his argument that prosecutors improperly excluded Black jurors from the pool used for his trial. Courthouse News and others add that the prosecution faced Supreme Court scrutiny in an earlier related episode, in which questions were raised about efforts to exclude Black jurors while trying a case multiple times involving the same type of charges. The Supreme Court’s ruling effectively voids the conviction at issue, setting the stage for further proceedings consistent with the decision, though outlets differ in the details they provide about the next steps.
U.S. Supreme Court overturns Mississippi death sentence over alleged racial bias in jury selection
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Terry Pitchford, a Black death-row inmate from Mississippi, overturning his capital-murder conviction. Multiple outlets report that the justices accepted Pitch...
- The Supreme Court overturns the capital-murder conviction of Terry Pitchford, a Black death-row inmate in Mississippi.
- Pitchford challenges the jury-selection process, alleging racial bias in how jurors were chosen.
- The ruling is reported as a 5–4 vote.
- Pitchford is sentenced to death for his role in the killing of a grocery store owner.
- Coverage reports that prosecutors were alleged to have improperly excluded Black jurors from the jury pool.
The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a Black death row inmate in Mississippi who challenged his conviction, claiming the prosecutor wrongly eliminated Black jurors from the pool that found him guilty of capital murder.
2 months agoThe Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Black death row inmate who argued racial discrimination occurred in the jury-selection process before his trial. CBS News' Katrina Kaufman reports.
2 months agoFor two decades, Terry Pitchford has agued his conviction was not valid, pointing to what he says were racially biased selections of the jurors who heard the case.
2 months agoThe prosecutor who put Terry Pitchford on death row faced Supreme Court scrutiny in 2019 over his efforts to exclude Black jurors while trying another man six times for the same crime.
2 months agoTerry Pitchford, who was 18 when convicted of murder, argued that Black jurors were excluded from his trialSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailThe US supreme court on Thursday ruled in favor of Terry Pitchford, a Black man convicted of capital murder and on death row in Mississippi, who claimed that his conviction was due to the jury having racial bias.The justices sided with Pitchford in a 5-4 vote. Continue reading...
2 months agoBy a 5-4 vote, the justices sided with Terry Pitchford, who was sentenced to death for his role in the killing of a grocery store owner.
2 months ago
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