The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the appeal case of a Mississippi Black man sitting on death row. While this isn’t the first time a case like inmate Terry Pitchford’s touches the high court, all eyes are now on a former district attorney involved, who has become the center of much debate over the years.
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Pitchford, 40, tried his luck in front of the justices 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 the SCOTUS Blog. His sentence was handed down in connection to 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 2006 trial was racked with controversy, however. For one, given the unnamed 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.
A jury pool of 126 was initially summoned for Pitchford’s 2006 trial, including about 40 Black folks. 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 an all-white jury and sentenced to death, despite never killing anyone himself, according to his team. After hearing arguments earlier this month, SCOTUS “seemed sympathetic” to Pitchford’s case. Now, the court is expected to rule by late June or early July.
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