Reuters Lawsuit Alleges Oklahoma May Have Killed Wrong Man By Ben Fenwick OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) -- A lawsuit filed in the wake of a police
forensics scandal in Oklahoma City alleges an innocent man may have been
executed based on shoddy evidence analysis, the defense lawyer who filed
the suit said on Tuesday.
Doug Parr, a board member of the Oklahoma Defense Attorneys
Association, said he filed suit this week to force the Oklahoma City
police department to hand over records and physical evidence used to try
and condemn Malcolm Rent Johnson, who was executed in January 2000 for a
rape-murder. State agencies have reviewed over a dozen cases of men
sentenced to death but not yet executed to see if crucial evidence should
be re-tested after an FBI report alleged a veteran police lab chemist, Joyce Gilchrist,
had a record of serious mistakes.
But while defense lawyers have talked about the possibility of wrongful
executions, Parr said his lawsuit was the first time the allegation has
been made in a specific case.
``That's what a number of people are concerned about,'' Parr said.
``That's why we are seeking an examination of the forensic file and the
physical evidence in this case.''
A spokesman for Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson dismissed the
allegations, saying there was overwhelming evidence against Johnson
besides physical traces, including incriminating statements he made to
police.
``The standard isn't 'did Joyce Gilchrist have anything to do with the
case?''' spokesman Gerald Adams said. ``The standard is whether or not the
conviction would stand on its own absent forensic testimony.''
Johnson was put to death by lethal injection on Jan. 6, 2000, for
raping and strangling to death Ura Alma Thompson, 76, in 1981.
Parr said the suit in state court alleges Johnson was convicted largely
on the weight of Gilchrist's analysis of hair and blood samples and her
testimony about that in court.
Oklahoma City police have declined to release the Johnson files, citing
the ongoing investigation of lab work, Parr said.
Gilchrist, who is on paid administrative leave, has denied the
allegations contained in the FBI report in April that criticized her work
in five felony cases.
The FBI report, which led in May to the release of a man after 15 years
in prison on a wrongful conviction of rape, said Gilchrist had
misidentified hair and fiber samples and ``went beyond the acceptable
limits of forensic science'' in her testimony in those cases.
State agencies are reviewing more than 1,600 felony cases in which
Gilchrist had a role, including 14 death penalty convictions where the
accused are still on death row. Of those 14, the state's attorney general
has recommended evidence be re-tested in three cases.
Copyright © 2001. Reuters. All rights reserved. saved from url: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010717/ts/oklahoma_lawsuit_1.html
July 18, 2001
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