Overview
- The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision on Thursday, May 28, 2026, vacated Terry Pitchford's 2006 conviction and death sentence and remanded the case to lower courts for further state proceedings.
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority that the trial judge omitted Batson's third step by denying the defense a chance to rebut prosecutors' race-neutral explanations for striking Black jurors.
- Record evidence shows prosecutor Doug Evans used peremptory strikes to remove four Black prospective jurors, producing a 12-person jury with only one Black member in a county about 40% Black.
- The ruling narrows the remedy to Pitchford while rejecting the 5th Circuit's stricter reading of AEDPA; Justice Neil Gorsuch dissented arguing Pitchford failed to meet AEDPA's high standard for federal relief.
- The decision revives the 2023 district court ruling that had tossed the conviction, means Pitchford can be retried or otherwise retried in state court, and keeps scrutiny on repeated prosecutorial patterns previously highlighted in Curtis Flowers's case.