Terry Pitchford was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for a robbery murder. According to court documents Terry Pitchford and an accomplice would murder a store owner, Reuben Britt, during the course of a robbery. Terry Pitchford would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
Mississippi Death Row Inmate List
Terry Pitchford 2021 Information
| Race: BLACK | Sex: MALE | Date of Birth: 12/30/1985 |
| Height: 5′ 7” | Weight: 172 | Complexion: MEDIUM BROW |
| Build: MEDIUM | Eye Color: BROWN | Hair Color: BLACK |
| Entry Date: 02/10/2006 | Location: MSP | UNIT: UNIT 29 |
| Location Change Date: 08/07/2019 | Number of Sentences: 1 | Total Length: DEATH |
Terry Pitchford More News
On the morning of November 7, 2004, Walter Davis and his son entered the Crossroads Grocery, where they discovered the body of the owner, Reuben Britt. They immediately called 911, and Grenada County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Greg Conley responded.
¶ 3. During his initial investigation at the scene, Investigator Conley observed that some of Britt’s wounds appeared to have been made by a projectile, and others by pellets, suggesting to Investigator Conley that two different weapons were involved. Missing from the store were a cash register, some cash, and a .38 caliber revolver loaded with “rat shot.” Also during his initial investigation, Investigator Conley received information suggesting that a vehicle owned by Terry Pitchford matched the description of the car used by Britt’s assailants, and that Pitchford had been part of a previous attempt to rob the Crossroads Grocery.
¶ 4. At Pitchford’s home, Conley found a car matching the description of the one involved in the homicide at the Crossroad’s grocery. After a search of the vehicle produced the missing .38 caliber revolver, Pitchford was taken into custody.
¶ 5. On November 7 and 8, 2004, Investigator Conley and Investigator Robert Jennings of the local district attorney’s office interviewed Pitchford. During those interviews, Pitchford confessed that he and Eric Bullin had gone to the store with the intention of robbing it. Pitchford stated that Bullin had shot Britt three times with a .22 caliber pistol, and that he (Pitchford) had fired shots into the floor. Pitchford also confessed that he had attempted to rob the same store a week and a half prior to the murder on November 7. Pitchford also confessed his role in the murders to fellow inmates Dantron Mitchell and James Hatchcock.
¶ 6. On January 11, 2005, the Grenada County Grand Jury indicted Pitchford for capital murder. After he was appointed counsel, he was arraigned on February 9, 2005, and jury selection commenced on February 6, 2006. Of the 350 registered voters of Grenada County who were summoned to a special venire, 126 returned jury questionnaires and appeared upon their summonses. Of these, forty were African-American, eighty-four were Caucasion, one was Hispanic, and one did not provide race information.
¶ 7. The trial judge (without objection from either party) excused certain jurors for statutory cause and other reasons unrelated to the case. At that point, the venire stood at ninety-six, of which thirty-five were African-American, and sixty-one were white. Following voir dire by the attorneys, the trial judge (without objection from either party) struck fifty-two prospective jurors for cause and three others for reasons not disclosed in the record, leaving thirty-six white persons and five African-Americans in the venire.
¶ 8. The attorneys were allowed to exercise strikes only on the twelve lowest-numbered members of the venire. Each time a strike was exercised, the next lowest-numbered juror joined the twelve potential jurors subject to peremptory strikes. The State exercised seven peremptory strikes, and Pitchford exercised twelve. The persons who replaced the nineteen strikes, plus the original twelve, resulted in thirty-one potential jurors subject to peremptory strikes by the attorneys.
¶ 9. Of the thirty-one potential jurors subject to peremptory strikes, Pitchford struck twelve whites and no African-Americans. Thus, there were nineteen potential jurors-fourteen of whom were whites and five of whom were African-Americans-subject to the State’s peremptory strikes. Although the State was allowed twelve peremptory strikes, it exercised only seven-three whites and four African-Americans.
¶ 10. Following jury selection, the case proceeded to trial, and on February 8, 2006, the jury found Pitchford guilty of capital murder. On February 9, the case proceeded to the penalty phase, at which the jury imposed a sentence of death by lethal injection. Pitchford filed a motion for a new trial on February 17, 2006, which was denied. He timely filed his notice of appeal.