Could equestrian prefects sit on sella curulis?
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Yes. The sella curulis was:
"... the seat upon which magistrates holding imperium were entitled to sit. This includes dictators, magistri equitum, consuls, praetors, censors, curule aediles, and the promagistrates, temporary or de facto holders of such offices.
Now, it is important to note that:
"No ancient authority defines imperium"
- [Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament, p3]
Nevertheless, the historian A.H.N. Jones is quoted in Brent Kinman's Jesus' Entry Into Jerusalem as follows:
It has often been doubted whether Praefecti, like Legati, held an imperium delegated to them by their proconsul, but there is no good reason for denying it. They were assigned tasks similar in kind, and differing only in scale, from those assigned to Legati, and the execution of these tasks required imperium ..."
So it would seem that as Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea (Praefectus Iudaeae) Pilate did hold imperium, and so was entitled to sit on the sella curulis. It should be remembered that the title "Prefect" was still a military one under Tiberius.
The situation seems to have changed when the military title "Prefect" was changed to the civilian title "Procurator" under Claudius (see Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation by Helen K. Bond, p12).
From this point, the Procurators were no longer magistrates, and (according to the Wikipedia article):
"so did not possess imperium, and merely exercised the Emperor’s, or governor's, authority with his approval."
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