Part Three: Forensic Stalker; Gilchrist And Smith; Manufacturing Evidence?

Early post for April 29, 2008;

AT TRIAL, THE TESTIFYING CHEMIST, JOYCE GILCHRIST, SAID SIX SAMPLES TAKEN FROM THE VICTIM'S BEDROOM SHOWED SEMEN CONSISTENT WITH MR. JOHNSON'S BLOOD TYPE. BUT A RE-EXAMINATION OF THOSE SLIDES THIS JULY 30 SHOWED THAT ''SPERMATOZOA IS NOT PRESENT,'' SAYS THE MEMORANDUM, DATED JULY 31, ADDRESSED TO THE CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE AND SIGNED BY MS. GILCHRIST'S COLLEAGUE LAURA SCHILE.

NEW YORK TIMES; AUGUST 30, 2001; "POLICE CHEMIST IS REBUTTED AFTER MAN'S EXECUTION;"

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A police department memo states that former forensic scientist Joyce Gilchrist cited scientific evidence that did not exist in the case of a man named Malcolm Rent Johnson who was subsequently executed;

Gilchrist came to my attention when I stumbled upon a Blog called "TalkLeft: The politics of crime" published out of Denver, Colorado, which compared Dr. Charles Smith to Gilchrist and referred to him as the "latest forensic stalker."

"While Joyce Gilchrist of Oklahoma apparently still holds the world's record for systematically framing the largest number of people over a period of years, the Toronto Star reports today, December 10,2007, that Canada boasts a forensic expert who, in duration of his service(if not in the number of his victims) can at least equal Gilmore's achievement," the author said;

(Smith, who has admitted "errors" and "mistakes" but has consistently denied allegations made during the Goudge Inquiry that he deliberately set out to cause harm to any of the individuals who were affected by his flawed opinions.)

The story on the police report stating that Gilchrist cited scientific evidence that did not exist was published in the New York Times on August 30, 2001, under the heading, "Police Chemist Is Rebutted After Man's Execution."

"A now-scrutinized Oklahoma City police chemist whose testimony helped convict a man later executed for murder cited scientific evidence that does not exist, a Police Department memorandum says," the story begins;

"The memorandum, written by another chemist in the Oklahoma City police laboratory and obtained by The Associated Press, refers to the case of Malcolm Rent Johnson, who was convicted in 1982 of rape and murder and was executed on Jan. 6, 2000," it continues.

"At trial, the testifying chemist, Joyce Gilchrist, said six samples taken from the victim's bedroom showed semen consistent with Mr. Johnson's blood type.

But a re-examination of those slides this July 30 showed that ''spermatozoa is not present,'' says the memorandum, dated July 31, addressed to the city attorney's office and signed by Ms. Gilchrist's colleague Laura Schile."

(H.L. note: While reading about the late Malcolm Rent Johnson, I couldn't help but think about the William Mullins-Johnson case studied by the Goudge Inquiry.

In that case, Dr. Charles Smith helped prosecutors convict the Sault Ste. Marie man of first-degree murder by saying he found pathological evidence that showed his niece Valin had been anally assaulted anally before being strangled to death.

A re-examination of the slides many years later - after Mullins-Johnson had spent more than twelve years behind bars - showed that four and a half year old Valin had neither been sexually assaulted or strangled but had died a natural death)

New York Times story continued: "Ms. Schile resigned from the city's embattled forensics laboratory on Aug. 2, citing a hostile work environment.

But her memorandum said the laboratory's three other scientists -- aside from Ms. Gilchrist, who is suspended -- agreed with her that sperm was not present.

One of those chemists, Kyla Marshall, confirmed that when the slides were retested, they revealed no sperm, just a few fibers from the victim's bedspread and pillowcase.

Sperm does not deteriorate for decades, Ms. Marshall said.

The memorandum is the latest turn in the events surrounding Ms. Gilchrist, who has been accused of repeatedly overstating courtroom testimony and performing shoddy forensic analysis. She has previously denied any wrongdoing, and her lawyer did not return calls seeking comment on Ms. Schile's memorandum."

Background on the Johnson case is provided in an Associated Press story By DEBORAH HASTINGS, AP National Writer, published on August 29, 2001, under the heading, "Testimony doubted in execution case."

"A man executed in Oklahoma last year was placed at the murder scene by the testimony of now-disgraced police chemist Joyce Gilchrist, but a police department memo obtained by The Associated Press says some of the scientific evidence she swore to does not exist," the story begins.

The July 31 memo by a fellow lab scientist for the Oklahoma City Police Department refers to the case of Malcolm Rent Johnson, who was executed on Jan. 6, 2000, after being convicted in 1982 of rape and murder. Johnson, who had served time for two previous rapes, insisted he was innocent." it continues;

"At Johnson's trial, Gilchrist testified that six samples taken from the murder victim's bedroom showed semen consistent with his blood type.

But a July 30 re-examination of those slides showed ``spermatozoa is not present,'' says the memo signed by chemist Laura Schile.

Schile resigned Aug. 2 from the embattled forensics lab, citing a hostile work environment.

She names the lab's three other scientists as agreeing that sperm is not present.

While the memo does not exonerate Johnson, it marks the first time legal questions have been raised about Gilchrist's testimony in an execution case.

The memo also noted that Gilchrist's testimony had been criticized previously.

Two appellate courts have ruled Gilchrist gave false testimony about semen evidence in the 1992 rape and murder trial of Alfred Brian Mitchell, whose death sentence was overturned earlier this month because of what one court called her ``untrue'' testimony.

``There are now two cases where the results stated in the (lab) report and testified to by Joyce Gilchrist contradict independent expert re-examination of the actual physical evidence,'' Schile wrote.

Prosecutors said there was sufficient evidence separate from Gilchrist's testimony to convict Johnson.

But Oklahoma County Chief Public Defender Robert Ravitz, who represented Johnson at trial, disagrees.

``It really calls into question whether the state of Oklahoma executed an innocent person,'' he said Tuesday.

Problems with Gilchrist's testimony in other cases have led to the release of three inmates who served long sentences, including one on death row.

Based on a preliminary review, authorities previously said there was no taint in the 11 cases where prisoners were put to death.

Gilchrist's attorney did not immediately return calls for comment.

The chemist has previously denied any wrongdoing.

Ura Alma Thompson, 76, was found suffocated in her apartment on Oct. 27, 1981.

There were no witnesses to the crime, and no fingerprints matching Johnson's were found.

He was arrested after officers went to his home to question him about an unrelated parole violation and noticed items belonging to the victim.

A search led to the discovery of her apartment key in his nightstand.

He contended all the items were given to him by a third party.

Gilchrist told jurors that semen stains on the woman's bedspread and pillow case matched Johnson's blood type, which constituted the bulk of evidence used to tie Johnson to rape.

The only other evidence stained by semen consistent with his blood type was a knee-high stocking, Gilchrist testified.

That stocking has not been retested.

A vaginal swab contained sperm, but not enough to test, Gilchrist told jurors.

Gilchrist also testified that hair fragments matched Johnson's hair and that fibers matched a blue cotton shirt he owned.

Johnson's trial marked the first time she had testified about fiber analysis.

DNA analysis was not available at that time, and the court denied the defense's request for funds to hire its own forensics expert.

Johnson's attorney argued during trial that blue cotton shirts were so ubiquitous that the fiber could not definitively be linked to Johnson.

Schile refused comment Tuesday on the memo contradicting Gilchrist's testimony, which she addressed to Richard Smith of the Oklahoma City Municipal Counselor's Office.

Kyla Marshall, one of the chemists named by Schile, confirmed that when the slides purported to contain sperm were retested, they revealed only a few fibers from the victim's bedspread and pillow case.

Sperm does not deteriorate for decades, she said.

Richard Wintory, a spokesman for the district attorney's office, said Tuesday that he still does not doubt Johnson's guilt.

``The evidence against Malcolm Rent Johnson is absolutely, incontestably, overwhelming he done it, done it, done it,'' Wintory said.

``This suggestion that an innocent guy was executed is not true about Malcolm Rent Johnson.''

``I am confident he is guilty of murder,'' Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said.

``He was convicted and sentenced to death and there is ample evidence supporting without consideration of forensic testimony.''

Gov. Frank Keating's office said he agreed the execution was appropriate.

Oklahoma City Police Chief M.T. Berry declined comment except to say that his department was willing to have evidence from the Johnson case retested by an independent lab.

Gilchrist was suspended with pay earlier this year after the FBI, which reviewed eight of her cases, concluded she had misidentified evidence or made other serious mistakes in six of them.

Hearings began last week to determine whether she should be fired.

In the Mitchell case, a lower federal court ruled Gilchrist had knowingly given false testimony and that prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence from defense lawyers.

That court still upheld the death penalty, but the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned it Aug. 13, saying, ``We simply cannot be confident that the jury would have returned the same sentence had no rape and sodomy evidence been presented to it.''

Doug Parr, who serves on the board of the Oklahoma Defense Lawyers Association, filed suit last month against the Oklahoma City Police Department, claiming it is illegally refusing to release public records pertaining to Johnson's case.

Schile re-examined the slides after a visit from Parr.

On Tuesday, Parr filed court papers seeking Schile's memo.

``It is yet another example that Ms. Gilchrist is apparently willing to lie and present false evidence in order to support prosecutors' efforts to convict persons in serious felony cases in Oklahoma County,'' he said.

``The question right now is did he commit the crime, period?''

The state attorney general's office, which is reviewing cases in which Gilchrist's testimony was pivotal, briefly re-examined Johnson's case earlier this year.

The attorney general said then that he was satisfied enough separate evidence existed to warrant the execution, including the victim's property being found in Johnson's home.

In seeking the death penalty, prosecutors cited Johnson's two previous convictions for rape in Chicago and the ``heinous'' nature of the rape and murder, and said he posed a danger to the community.

Johnson's public defender said his client might have been spared the death penalty if he hadn't been convicted of rape.

But attorney Garvin Isaacs, who has represented several defendants Gilchrist testified against, said any one of the aggravating circumstances in Johnson's case could have resulted in the sentence, regardless of the rape conviction.

"It's Oklahoma,'' he said.

According to a recent survey by Amnesty International, Oklahoma has more executions per capita than any state."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

Part Two: "Forensic Stalker:" Former Oklahoma Forensic Scientist Gilchrist Accused of Hiding Or Destroying Hairs Sought For DNA Testing;

EARLY POSTING FOR MONDAY APRIL 28, 2008;

IN EACH OF ITS RULINGS OVERTURNING MCCARTY’S CONVICTIONS, THE APPEALS COURT NOTED THAT GILCHRIST INITIALLY SAID HAIRS FROM THE CRIME SCENE DEFINITELY DID NOT MATCH MCCARTY, THEN CHANGED HER RECORDS AND TESTIMONY TO SAY THEY DEFINITELY MATCHED HIM (YEARS LATER, GILCHRIST EITHER HID OR DESTROYED THOSE HAIRS WHEN THEY WERE SOUGHT FOR DNA TESTING).

FROM INNOCENCE PROJECT PRESS RELEASE HEADED "INNOCENT MAN FREED FROM DEATH ROW" - CASE INVOLVED OKLAHOMA FORENSIC SCIENTIST JOYCE GILCHRIST;

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Curtis McCarty's release after serving 21 years in prison in Oklahoma - including sixteen on death row - following his conviction on evidence given by now discredited forensic scientist Joyce Gilchrist - is the subject of a press release issued by the Innocence Project on May 12, 2007.

McCarty had been exonerated by DNA evidence;

In a recent post, I described how a Blog, operating out of Denver, Colorado, compared Dr. Charles Smith to Gilchrist, who's tainted evidence has been implicated in death penalty cases; ("Smith Compared To Notorious American Forensic Specialist - Called "Latest Forensic Stalker.")

The author states that, "While Joyce Gilchrist of Oklahoma apparently still holds the world's record for systematically framing the largest number of people over a period of years ,the Toronto Star reports today, December 10,2007,that Canada boasts a forensic expert who,in duration of his service(if not in the number of his victims)can at least equal Gilmore's achievement."

(Dr. Charles Smith has admitted making "errors" and "mistakes" during his evidence at the Goudge Inquiry but has consistently denied allegations that he deliberately set out to harm to any of the individuals who were affected by his flawed opinions.)

I was fascinated to note the allegation in the press release that Gilchrist had hid or destroyed hairs which had been sought for DNA-testing in the case - in light of Dr. Smith's admissions that he had kept in his personal possession (and failed to submit for testing) an apparent male pubic hair taken during the autopsy on Baby Jenna which could have been of significant evidentiary value to the defence.

The press release, datelined, Oklahoma City, appeared under the heading: "Another Innocent Man Freed From Death Row: Oklahoma City case is one of the worst cases of government misconduct in the history of the American criminal justice system, Innocence Project says."

"Curtis Edward McCarty, who was convicted twice and sentenced to death for the same murder in verdicts that were both thrown out based on evidence of his innocence and an extraordinary pattern of government misconduct, was released from prison this morning after a judge dismissed the indictment against him that would have led to a third trial," the release began;

"The prosecution said today that it will not appeal the decision – finally clearing McCarty after 21 years of wrongful incarceration, more than 16 of them on death row," it continued.

"In 1986, McCarty was convicted of a 1982 murder in Oklahoma City and sentenced to die.

Citing misconduct by the prosecutor and a police lab analyst, the Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the conviction, and McCarty was retried in 1989.

He was again convicted and sentenced to death. In 1995, the appeals court upheld his conviction but threw out his death sentence; in 1996, he was sentenced to death again.

In 2005, the Court of Criminal Appeals again overturned his conviction, citing the continued pattern of government misconduct – and new DNA tests showing
that semen recovered from the victim did not come from McCarty.

“Every piece of evidence in this case, including evidence that was used improperly to secure convictions, now shows Curtis McCarty’s innocence,” said Colin Starger, the Innocence Project Staff Attorney on the case who argued the motion to dismiss the indictment in a three-hour hearing yesterday afternoon.

“Semen recovered from the victim, material under the victim’s fingernails and a bloody print the perpetrator left on the victim’s body all come from someone other than Curtis McCarty.”

Robert H. Macy, who was the Oklahoma County District Attorney for 21 years, prosecuted McCarty in both of his trials.

Macy sent 73 people to death row – more than any other prosecutor in the nation – and 20 of them have been executed.

Macy has said publicly that he believes executing an innocent person is a sacrifice worth making in order to keep the death penalty in the United States.

Macy committed misconduct in the manner that he prosecuted McCarty and presented the case to the jury.

His misconduct was compounded when he relied on Joyce Gilchrist, a police lab analyst who falsified test results and hid or destroyed evidence in order to help secure McCarty’s convictions.

Gilchrist was the lead forensic analyst in 23 cases that ended in death sentences (11 of the defendants in those cases have been executed).

“This is by far one of the worst cases of law enforcement misconduct in the history of the American criminal justice system,” said Barry Scheck, Co-Director of the Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Cardozo School of Law.

“Bob Macy has said that executing an innocent person is a risk worth taking – and he came very close to doing just that with Curtis McCarty.”

Macy’s conduct in prosecuting McCarty was singled out in the Court of Criminal Appeals ruling that overturned McCarty’s first conviction; that ruling noted that the case was “replete with error” and referred to Macy’s conduct as “improper” and “unprofessional.”

In each of its rulings overturning McCarty’s convictions, the appeals court noted that Gilchrist initially said hairs from the crime scene definitely did not match McCarty, then changed her records and testimony to say they definitely matched him (years later, Gilchrist either hid or destroyed those hairs when they were sought for DNA testing).

The prosecution also claimed that semen on the victim’s body came from McCarty, while DNA testing now shows that it did not.

The prosecution maintained that McCarty acted alone in the crime, until evidence began to emerge that he was not the perpetrator; at that point, the prosecution began to say McCarty had an accomplice (though no evidence of multiple perpetrators was ever found or introduced).

McCarty was charged in 1985 with stabbing and strangling 18-year-old Pamela Kaye Willis three years earlier in Oklahoma City.

Willis, an acquaintance of McCarty’s, was found dead in the kitchen of a friend’s home on December 10, 1982.

Hairs and other biological evidence were collected by police at the crime scene.

Gilchrist, who testified in both of McCarty’s trials, was fired in 2001 for fraud and misconduct in McCarty’s case and others.

DNA testing conducted on post-conviction appeal in 2002 showed that sperm recovered from the victim’s body did not match McCarty and the Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the second conviction in 2005.

The Innocence Project became involved in the case in 2003; attorneys Perry Hudson and Marna Franklin also represent McCarty.

“For anyone who believes the death penalty is being carried out appropriately in this country, and anyone who believes that prosecutors and government witnesses can always be relied on to pursue the truth, this case is a wake-up call,” said Peter Neufeld, Co-Director of the Innocence Project.

“Three separate times, an innocent man was sentenced to die because of the actions of an unethical prosecutor and a fraudulent analyst.”

McCarty is the 201st person in the United States exonerated through DNA evidence – and the 15th of those 201 who has served time on death row.

McCarty is the ninth person to be exonerated by DNA evidence in Oklahoma and the third to be exonerated from the state’s death row.

Robert Miller was exonerated based on DNA evidence in 1998 after serving more than 9 years on death row in Oklahoma for crimes he didn’t commit.

Macy prosecuted Miller, and Gilchrist provided forensic testimony leading to his wrongful conviction."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

Part One: "Forensic Stalker;" Smith Compared To Notorious American Forensic Specialist - Called "Latest Forensic Stalker."

"THE REPORT SAYS THAT “MISSING EVIDENCE IS OCCURRING IN MAJOR CASES.” SOME OF THOSE CASES WERE DEATH PENALTY CASES. ACCORDING TO THE REPORT, A FREEZER BREAKDOWN CONTAMINATED EVIDENCE FROM HUNDREDS OF CASES. THE REPORT ALSO SAID THAT BLOOD ANALYSIS FILES FROM THREE ENTIRE YEARS - 1980, 1981, AND 1990 - WERE MISSING, AND THAT RAPE EVIDENCE WAS SYSTEMATICALLY BEING DESTROYED AFTER ONLY TWO YEARS"

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"WILSON SAYS THAT THE ENTIRE SYSTEM IS TO BLAME FOR ALLOWING GILCHRIST TO CONTINUE WORKING. “I THINK YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE, THAT THEY HAVE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON. THEY HAVE TO HAVE SEEN ALL THE FLAGS THAT HAVE BEEN WAVED. THE JUDGES ARE NO DIFFERENT. THEY’VE SEEN THE APPELLATE COURT DECISIONS COME BACK. IT’S NOT JUST THE POLICE, IT’S NOT JUST THE PROSECUTORS, IT’S EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE SYSTEM.”

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"I THINK JOYCE GILCHRIST MAY HAVE FALLEN INTO AN INTERNAL FEELING THAT SHE WAS ON THE POLICE TEAM, SHE WAS ON THE PROSECUTION TEAM,” HE SAYS. “AND WHAT SCIENTISTS SHOULD ALWAYS FEEL LIKE IS THEY ARE ON THE SIDE OF SCIENCE.”

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ALL QUOTES FROM CBS DOCUMENTARY: "UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: FORENSIC SCIENTIST ACCUSED OF MISHANDLING CASES;

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The growing international notoriety of Dr. Charles Smith is evident in a post on a Blog called "TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime" published out of Denver, Colorado.

The post was published on Dec. 10, TalkLeft, 2007 under the heading, "Suffer the Little Children To Come Unto Me - The Latest Forensic Stalker."

"The Latest Forensic Stalker" is the description given by the author to Dr. Charles Smith, who has admitted "errors" and "mistakes" but has consistently denied allegations made during the Goudge Inquiry that he deliberately set out to harm to any of the individuals who were affected by his flawed opinions.

The author of the post compares Dr. Smith to Joyce Gilchrist, a forensic scientist in the State Of Oklahoma, who has been implicated in death penalty cases;

"While Joyce Gilchrist of Oklahoma apparently still holds the world's record for systematically framing the largest number of people over a period of years, the Toronto Star reports today, December 10,2007, that Canada boasts a forensic expert who, in duration of his service(if not in the number of his victims) can at least equal Gilmore's achievement," the author says;

This is the same Joyce Gilchrist was the subject of a CBS: Sixty Minutes presentation on July, 24, 2002, under the heading: "Under the Microscope: Forensic Scientist Accused of Mishandling Cases;"

"DNA testing in old criminal cases is doing more than freeing dozens of innocent people from prison. It is also pointing the finger of blame at a legal system that has sometimes relied on bad science, and gotten bad results," the CBS story begins;

"That is the case in a growing legal scandal in Oklahoma City where one innocent man has been freed after 15 years in prison, triggering an investigation into the police chemist whose work put him and hundreds of other people behind bars," the story continues;

"The scientist's name is Joyce Gilchrist. Now she finds herself under the microscope and every case she worked on is in question.

For 20 years, Gilchrist examined crime scenes, looking for clues linking suspects to evidence she said she found. Often, her testimony in court meant the difference between innocence and guilt.

When 60 Minutes II first brought you this story last year, questions were just beginning to be asked. Joyce Gilchrist is the target of lawsuits and investigations, and there are concerns that she may have put people in prison with more sorcery than science.

In Oklahoma City, Gilchrist was considered so good at getting conviction that police had given her the nickname "black magic." She says it started with one particular case: “It was in reference to a homicide case where the defense attorney referred to me in his closing statements as a sorcerer - someone who conducted black magic, and stated that I seemed to be able to do things with evidence that nobody was else able to do.”

Now, she is the target of several investigations, and there are growing concerns that she may have put people in prison with more sorcery than science.

According to her critics, Gilchrist has a history of seeing things in the lab that other scientists can’t, and saying things in court that other scientists won’t.

But for nearly two decades, her work has been helping Oklahoma City police and prosecutors win convictions - whether the defendant was guilty or innocent.

Among the cases that Gilchrist handled was that of Jeff Pierce. Fifteen years ago, Gilchrist was the police chemist on his case. Pierce had been arrested for rape.

“I voluntarily gave them hairs and blood,” says Pierce. “And they said, if this comes back and it doesn’t match, you can go home. And I voluntarily gave it to them. And they came back five minutes later and said, ‘Oh, it all matches... you’re going to prison.’”

Gilchrist used her microscope to match Pierce’s hair and blood to evidence found at the crime scene and on the victim. At trial, her testimony was devastating. She told jurors that the dozens of hairs she found were microscopically “consistent” with Pierce’s, and were a means of “positive” identification.

Pierce had a clean record, alibi witnesses and character references. In the end, though, he was found guilty. But three weeks ago, a DNA test proved he did not commit the rape that put him in prison.

Gilchrist says she did the best she could in the Pierce case: “Using the technology we had at the time, I did the best job I could and I presented the facts to the court and let the jury decide what they believed.”

But there are questions about Gilchrist’s lab work in the Pierce case. A few months ago, when Pierce’s defense team requested DNA testing, chemists pulled out the 15-year-old evidence and found that Gilchrist’s testimony didn’t match the facts. The FBI was sent in to investigate Gilchrist’s work in the Pierce case, and seven other controversial cases.

The official report found that in five cases, including Pierce's, there are “errors in identification,” and that lab notes were “incomplete or inadequate” In one case, the matches Gilchrist made “fall far below the acceptable limits of the science of hair comparisons.” The FBI suggested a review of all cases where her work was significant to the outcome of the trial.

Gilchrist herself isn’t sure about the FBI tests. “Let’s submit that evidence for DNA analysis and see,” she says. “I look forward to that. And if I’m wrong, you know, I would accept responsibility if I’m wrong. But I’ve never intentionally done anything wrong in a case I’ve ever been involved in.”

In 1985, she was named the police department’s Employee of the Year. But a more recent police memo paints a far different picture, suggesting that the lab Gilchrist supervised was chaotic.

The report says that “missing evidence is occurring in major cases.” Some of those cases were death penalty cases. According to the report, a freezer breakdown contaminated evidence from hundreds of cases. The report also said that blood analysis files from three entire years - 1980, 1981, and 1990 - were missing, and that rape evidence was systematically being destroyed after only two years.

“My administrators are the ones who make the decisions about the operation of the laboratory,” says Gilchrist. “I don’t make that decision. I just carry out those orders. That’s why I can’t comment right now.”

In going over Gilchrist’s notes, chemists found she had a wildly inappropriate way of jogging her memory about cases, repeatedly referring to victims or defendants as “fags” and “faggots.”

She admits to using those terms, and says she regrets it now. “At the time though, that’s the slang that was used,” she says.

In March, Gilchrist was suspended from her job by police chief M.T. Berry. “My biggest concern is that in my life as a law enforcement officer, I would rather let a guilty man go free than send an innocent man to the penitentiary. And my biggest fear is that may have happened in this case,” Berry says.

Gilchrist was part of thousands of police investigations. She testified in hundreds of cases. She helped send 23 people to death row. Eleven have already been executed. Now all of her felony cases are under review.

Over the years, Gilchrist’s testimony has been repeatedly criticized by appellate court judges, who have described her testimony as “misleading,” “untruthful,” and “inexcusable.”

“I don’t agree with (that characterization),” Gilchrist says. “Because I’ve never lied in court. I’ve always told the truth. I’ve never lied to anyone about anything. If you don’t want to know the truth, don’t ask me because I’m not going to sugarcoat anything for you. I’m going to tell it to you. I’ll tell it to you just the way it is.”

Gilchrist has been reprimanded by one professional forensic association, and expelled from another for unethical behavior.

John Wilson, chief chemist at the Kansas City police lab, filed an ethics charge against Gilchrist 15 years ago. “I’m not the only forensic scientist who has reviewed her work and said this is bad work,” he says. “The whole criminal justice system has failed. It has absolutely failed.”

Wilson says that the entire system is to blame for allowing Gilchrist to continue working. “I think you have to look at the prosecutor’s office, that they have to understand what’s been going on. They have to have seen all the flags that have been waved. The judges are no different. They’ve seen the appellate court decisions come back. It’s not just the police, it’s not just the prosecutors, it’s everyone in the entire system.”

Gilchrist says that Wilson is a sore loser. "He has come into Oklahoma County, in district court, to testify against me on several occasions... expert witness for the defense. But the juries did not believe his testimony. And I don't think he's been back since."

Gilchrist agreed to talk to us only if we would agree to talk to her old boss Dave McBride. Ten years ago, he was Oklahoma City's police chief. Asked if he had any reason to suspect that she was not doing her job well, McBride says: "No one ever raised the issue." He says that no one mentioned to him that there was a problem with the crime lab: "Never. Not one time, not ever."

McBride believes that what has happened in Oklahoma City could happen anywhere that a forensics lab is attached to a police agency, and that is the case in most large American cities. He says it creates scientists who consider themselves cops in lab coats.

“I think there’s an inherent potential conflict there,” he says. “And I don’t know that that’s always healthy for the criminal justice system. But I certainly think that the investigators liked working with her. And I know that the district attorney loved having her as a witness.”

“I think Joyce Gilchrist may have fallen into an internal feeling that she was on the police team, she was on the prosecution team,” he says. “And what scientists should always feel like is they are on the side of science.”

After Pierce was convicted, Gilchrist received an honorary citation from the Oklahoma City police and a commendation from the district attorney, for her “skillful work in the careful analysis of the forensic evidence.”

Pierce says that he is still outraged at Gilchrist: “She’s ruined me and countless lies. They lost their kids, lost their wives, lots their families.”

When Pierce last saw his sons, they were 1 year old. He and his wife decided they didn’t want prison to be part of their children’s lives. So the boys and their mother moved out of state. They grew up without knowing their father, or even where he was. Pierce didn’t want them to know he was in prison.

Last night, Pierce was released from prison. He was asked what he wanted to say to Gilchrist. “Why? Why did you do this?” he said.

Hundreds of cases that Gilchrist handled are now under review. The worry in Oklahoma City is that Pierce isn’t the only innocent person Gilchrist helped send to prison - just one of the lucky few to get out.

July 2002 Update:

Since his release, Jeff Pierce has been getting reacquainted with his ex-wife and twin sons in Michigan. In April, he filed a $75 million federal lawsuit against the state of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City, Also named in the lawsuit is former prosecutor Bob Macy and Joyce Gilchrist.

Gilchrist was fired from her job in September. She is suing the city demanding her job back."

Bloggist's Note: Sound familiar?

Next posting: "Part Two: "Forensic Stalker:" Former Oklahoma Forensic Scientist Gilchrist Accused of Hiding Or Destroying Hairs Sought For DNA Testing;"

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;qwq