⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Supreme Court of the United States hears oral argument in Pitchford versus Cain. Terry Pitchford was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for the 2004 armed robbery and killing of a store owner in Grenada County, Mississippi. He was eighteen years old at the time of the crime. At his 2006 trial, the prosecutor used peremptory strikes to remove four of the five Black prospective jurors from a venire that included only five Black members out of forty-one total. Pitchford's counsel raised a Batson objection, alleging racial discrimination. The trial judge found a prima facie case and required the prosecution to offer race-neutral explanations. After hearing those explanations, the judge accepted them and allowed the strikes, empaneling a jury with only one Black member. The Mississippi Supreme Court later held that Pitchford had waived any argument that the prosecution's stated reasons were pretextual because his trial counsel did not explicitly argue pretext at trial. A federal district court granted habeas relief, but the Fifth Circuit reversed. The question before the Court is whether the Mississippi Supreme Court unreasonably determined, under the federal habeas statute known as AEDPA, that Pitchford waived his right to challenge the prosecution's justifications as pretextual.

Pitchford v. Cain (No. 24-7351) — Supreme Court of the United States, argued March 31, 2026.