By AP

Friday, December 28, 2007 12:42 PM CST


OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A former Oklahoma death row inmate has sued an
ex-police chemist whose testimony helped send him to prison more than
20 years ago.

Curtis Edward McCarty filed a federal lawsuit against Joyce
Gilchrist, police Chief Bill Citty and the city earlier this month
for allegedly ignoring his constitutional rights.

McCarty, 45, alleges Gilchrist fabricated the evidence that led to
him being convicted two times in the Dec. 10, 1982, murder of 18-year-
old Pamela Kaye Willis. He was sentenced to death three times, but
each of those convictions was overturned on appeal because of
questions about Gilchrist’s testimony.

According to the lawsuit, the chief of police failed to properly
train and supervise Gilchrist, whose work was questioned as far back
as 1986, according to his lawsuit. Officials fired her in 2001.

He is seeking unspecified damages, according to the Dec. 5 filing.

A city attorney declined to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday, while
Gilchrist’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

Gilchrist has been sued by at least two other former inmates who
blamed her for their wrongful incarceration.

Oklahoma City officials agreed in January to pay $4 million to
Jeffrey Todd Pierce, who spent 15 years in prison for a rape he did
not commit.

David Johns Bryson, who spent 17 years in prison for rape and
kidnapping before being exonerated by DNA evidence, still has a
lawsuit pending against Gilchrist, the city of Oklahoma City and
former Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy.

McCarty was released from prison in May when an Oklahoma County judge
dismissed the murder charge filed against him in 1985. His case
differed from the other two because authorities don’t consider him to

be exonerated.

District Judge Twyla Mason Gray said evidence in the case was tainted
by Gilchrist, but she still thought McCarty was involved in Willis’
slaying. Prosecutors maintained there was enough evidence to convict
McCarty but opted not to appeal Gray’s decision to dismiss the
charge.

McCarty’s attorneys contend there was no evidence linking him to
Willis’ death once testimony offered by Gilchrist was refuted by
subsequent scientific tests.

“Her unscientific methods and testimony were the direct ... cause of

McCarty’s wrongful incarceration,” his attorneys wrote in the
filing.


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