Justices to Hear Appeal of Black Juror Strikes in Capital Case

The US Supreme Court will consider whether a man convicted of capital murder can raise post-trial challenges of a prosecutor’s peremptory strikes against four black jurors.

The case granted Monday centers on a Mississippi Supreme Court decision that affirmed Terry Pitchford’s capital murder conviction and death sentence stemming from an armed robbery in 2004.

Pitchford raised Batson claims challenging alleged intentional discrimination by prosecutors in jury selection, but the Mississippi Supreme Court found a state trial court properly rejected such arguments. It also held that it wouldn’t consider any arguments rebutting the prosecution’s race-neutral reasons as pretextual because Pitchford failed to raise them during trial.

The question for the justices is whether, under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, Mississippi’s high court “unreasonably determined” that Pitchford waived his right to rebut prosecutors’ stated rationale for exercising peremptory strikes against black jurors.

State prosecutors used seven of their 12 peremptory strikes during Pitchford’s trial, including four to exclude the five remaining black jurors, according to a brief submitted by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch.

Following the Mississippi Supreme Court decision, Pitchford, who was 18 at the time of the crime, successfully sought federal habeas relief from a district court. Pitchford’s lawyers said state records produced following his habeas petition showed “profound problems concerning the intent” behind prosecutors’ juror strikes.

But the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed that decision, finding the state courts properly refused to consider arguments Pitchford didn’t raise at trial.

The case is: Pitchford v. Cain, U.S., No. 24-7531, petition granted, 12/15/25.