Judge overturns Mississippi death penalty case, says racial bias in picking jury wasn’t fully argued

GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has overturned the death penalty conviction of a Mississippi man stemming from a fatal store robbery in 2004. The judge ruling recenlty that the man’s defense lawyer didn’t get to fully argue at trial that the prosecution was dismissing Black jurors for discriminatory reasons. U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills says the state of Mississippi must give Terry Pitchford a new trial on capital murder charges. The office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch says the state intends to appeal. Pitchford was indicted on a murder charge in the shooting death of a store owner in northern Mississippi.