Facts of the Case
Terry Pitchford was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in Mississippi for his role in a 2004 armed robbery in which his accomplice killed a store owner. At his 2006 trial, the prosecution used peremptory strikes to remove four of the five Black prospective jurors; after defense counsel raised a Batson objection and the prosecutor offered race-neutral explanations, the trial court accepted the strikes without giving the defense a full opportunity to argue the explanations were pretextual. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed, holding any pretext argument waived, and although a federal district court granted habeas relief, the Fifth Circuit reversed.
Questions
Did the Mississippi Supreme Court unreasonably decide—under the standards set by federal habeas law—that Terry Pitchford gave up his right to argue that the prosecutor's explanations for striking four Black jurors were false or racially biased?
Conclusions
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On May 28, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court held 5-4 in Pitchford v. Cain that when a trial court cuts off a defendant before the third step of the Batson process, a state appellate court's finding that the defendant waived his pretext challenge to the prosecution's race-neutral explanations is an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law under AEDPA.