Terry Pitchford, Petitioner v. Burl Cain, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Corrections, et al.

The Supreme Court said the Mississippi Supreme Court's waiver ruling improperly blocked review of Terry Pitchford's claim that the prosecutor's reasons for striking four Black jurors were false or racially biased. That means his challenge to his conviction in federal court must be reconsidered under the right standard.

The ruling can keep jury-selection bias claims from being shut down by a technical waiver rule. For example, a prisoner arguing that Black jurors were struck for discriminatory reasons may now get fuller review in lower court.

The case now returns to the lower courts for proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court's decision. Those courts must revisit Pitchford's jury-selection claim instead of ending the case on the earlier waiver reasoning alone.

He argued Mississippi courts wrongly said he gave up his claim that the prosecutor's reasons for striking four Black jurors were false or race-based.

It affects Pitchford first, and it can also help other prisoners whose jury-bias claims were blocked by procedural waiver rules.

The case returns to the lower courts. They must reconsider his jury-selection claim under the Supreme Court's instruction, not the earlier waiver reasoning.