{"id":2607914,"date":"2026-05-28T14:44:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-sides-with-death-row-inmate-over-jury-selection-racial-bias-claims\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T14:47:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:47:30","slug":"supreme-court-sides-with-death-row-inmate-over-jury-selection-racial-bias-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-sides-with-death-row-inmate-over-jury-selection-racial-bias-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court sides with death row inmate over jury selection racial bias claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsupreme-court-sides-with-death-row-inmate-over-jury-selection-racial-bias-claims%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2607914&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The U.S. Supreme court ruled in favor of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/10-hollywood-movies-that-snuck-conservative-themes-on-screen\/\" title=\"10 Hollywood Movies That Snuck Conservative Themes on Screen\">death row inmate<\/a> Terry Pitchford, reversing a decision by the Mississippi Supreme court that upheld his death sentence. Pitchford challenged the dismissal of four prospective black jurors during jury selection,arguing it violated the standards from *Batson v. Kentucky*.<\/p>\n<p>writing for the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the trial judge should have given Pitchford\u2019s lawyers an possibility at the third step of the *Batson* process to argue that the prosecution\u2019s stated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-to-hear-death-row-inmates-challenge-of-racial-bias-in-jury-selection\/\" title=\"Supreme Court to hear ...&#039;s challenge of racial bias in ...\">race-neutral reasons<\/a> were actually pretextual. The prosecution had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lifelong-democrat-c-span-caller-says-party-makes-him-sick-announces-hes-leaving\/\" title=\"Lifelong Democrat C-SPAN Caller Says Party &#039;Makes&#039; Him &#039;Sick,&#039; Announces He&#039;s Leaving\">cited reasons including<\/a> that one juror was late by 15 minutes, two had brothers convicted of violent offenses, and one was a young unmarried father like Pitchford-but the trial court accepted these reasons without allowing defence rebuttal, even after repeated attempts by pitchford\u2019s attorneys. The jury that convicted pitchford ultimately included 11 white jurors and one Black juror.<\/p>\n<p>The Court\u2019s decision was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson joining the majority. Justice Neil Gorsuch dissented, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett, arguing Pitchford did not meet the legal requirements to obtain relief in federal court from his state case. The majority characterized the ruling as narrow and focused on Pitchford\u2019s circumstances.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"203\">Supreme Court<\/a> sided with a death row inmate in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mississippi\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"528\">Mississippi<\/a> who challenged the dismissal of four black potential jurors during jury selection for his trial in a sharply divided ruling Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Terry Pitchford was convicted by a state jury to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/death-penalty\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1427\">death<\/a> for his role in the 2004 killing of the owner of a grocery store during a botched robbery, but he challenged that conviction based on the circumstances of how the group of prospective black jurors was dismissed. The Mississippi Supreme Court <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3917807\/supreme-court-hear-death-row-inmates-challenge-racial-bias-jury-selection\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3917807\/supreme-court-hear-death-row-inmates-challenge-racial-bias-jury-selection\/\">tossed out his challenge<\/a>, finding the trial court properly applied the three-step process to challenge whether a juror was unlawfully dismissed on racial grounds, which was set out by the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling in <em>Batson v. Kentucky<\/em>.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4583383\/male-athlete-supreme-court-transgender-sports-case-state-championships\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Male athlete in Supreme Court transgender sports case placed high in girls\u2019 state championships: West Virginia AG<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4583620\/alabama-asks-supreme-court-unblock-gop-friendly-map\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Alabama asks Supreme Court to unblock GOP-friendly congressional map<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4581890\/supreme-court-declines-catholic-fundraising-case\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Supreme Court declines to take up Catholic fundraising case<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With its ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court reversed the state Supreme Court, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/25pdf\/24-7351_jiel.pdf\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/25pdf\/24-7351_jiel.pdf\">ruling<\/a> 5-4 that the lower court failed to follow the <em>Batson<\/em> standard and that Pitchford did not waive his right to contest the dismissal of the prospective black jurors for race-neutral reasons.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Justice Brett Kavanaugh penned the majority ruling, finding that the trial court did not give Pitchford\u2019s lawyers an opportunity to rebut the race-neutral reasons given by the prosecution to strike the four prospective black jurors from the jury pool, which should have been afforded to him as the third part of the <em>Batson<\/em> standard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Pitchford\u2019s lawyers raised concerns over the dismissal of four out of the five prospective black jurors by the prosecution, the judge asked for race-neutral reasons for the dismissal. Prosecutors said they dismissed the prospective black jurors because one was 15 minutes late to court, two of the four had brothers who were convicted of violent offenses, and the other was a young, unmarried father, like Pitchford.\u00a0The trial court judge accepted the prosecution\u2019s rationale without allowing Pitchford\u2019s lawyers to contest those reasons, despite multiple attempts to do so. The jury that ultimately convicted Pitchford consisted of 11 white jurors and one black juror.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe need not belabor the matter. After a prosecutor asserts race-neutral reasons for a peremptory strike, the defense counsel must at least have an opportunity to argue that the asserted race-neutral reasons were not the actual reasons\u2014that is, the reasons were pretextual,\u201d Kavanaugh wrote. \u201cThen, the trial court can determine whether those asserted reasons were the actual reasons or instead were pretextual.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn this case, whether due to confusion, oversight, an <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >overly hurried jury selection process<\/a>, or some other cause, things broke down, and the ordinary trial-court procedure for resolving <em>Batson<\/em> claims at step three never occurred\u2014notwithstanding the repeated efforts of Pitchford\u2019s counsel to pursue and preserve the <em>Batson<\/em> objection,\u201d Kavanaugh added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined Kavanaugh\u2019s majority opinion, siding with Pitchford to toss out his conviction. Justice Neil Gorusch wrote the dissent, which was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett, arguing that Pitchford had failed to met requirements under law for relief for his state court issue in federal court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn short, I respectfully dissent because, as I see it, the Court\u2019s opinion errs on the law and the factual record alike. But if the Court\u2019s decision is mistaken, at least its impact is limited,\u201d Gorsuch wrote, noting that the ruling was narrow and only applies to Pitchford.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4562772\/major-supreme-court-decisions-remainder-term\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"4562772\">THE MAJOR SUPREME COURT DECISIONS REMAINING FOR THIS TERM<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Supreme Court is expected to release opinions in the 26 remaining cases it heard arguments in this term over the next month, with all decisions set to be issued by the end of June or the beginning of July. The high court is expected to issue opinions next week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once all opinions are released for the current term, the high court will conclude this term and begin its next one in October with oral arguments and decisions in likely dozens of cases. The Supreme Court has already announced 10 cases it will hear next term, and is expected to add to that list in the coming months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court agrees with Mississippi death-row inmate on Batson juror dismissal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2638,"featured_media":2607915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26138779286787.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[33010,33571,37889,46588,32275],"class_list":["post-2607914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-criminal-justice","tag-death-penalty","tag-jury-selection","tag-racial-bias","tag-supreme-court"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26138779286787.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607914"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2607918,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607914\/revisions\/2607918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2607915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}