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| Police Chemist Accused of Shoddy Work Is Fired |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/27/2001 |
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A police chemist accused of shoddy work and false or misleading testimony in criminal cases, including some that sent men to death row, was fired Tuesday. The chemist, Joyce Gilchrist, was dismissed by the police chief, M. T. Berry, who said the decision was based on the recommendations of an administrative panel that heard testimony on Ms. Gilchrist's conduct. 'I challenge you to tell me what Joyce Gilchrist was terminated for,' her attorney, Melvin Hall, said Tuesday. A statement from Chief Berry's office said the reasons for firing Ms. Gilchrist included laboratory mismanagement and 'flawed casework analysis.' Gilchrist said she was 'very, very disappointed' with the panel's findings. Hall said Gilchrist's termination letter was inaccurate and did not spell out the specific misconduct that led to her dismissal. 'Joyce Gilchrist doesn't know what she did wrong,' Hall said. Ms. Gilchrist, whose work is being investigated by the F.B.I. and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, has been on paid administrative leave since February, earning a base salary of $59,528. In May, Jeff Pierce, who was convicted of rape in 1986 after Ms. Gilchrist testified about hair evidence, was freed after 15 years behind bars when new testing indicated his DNA did not match that of the person who committed the crime. Last month, a federal appeals court overturned a convicted killer's death sentence because of problems with Ms. Gilchrist's testimony about DNA evidence. And a few years ago, an inmate who was put on death row in part by Ms. Gilchrist's testimony was exonerated after a DNA semen analysis proved he did not attack the victim. In April, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recommended a review of all cases in which Ms. Gilchrist's work was significant to securing a conviction. Ms. Gilchrist has been involved in 11 cases in which people were put to death, but the state attorney general's office has said there is no indication that any innocent people had been executed. State investigators said this month that a forensic team had reviewed 583 case files and marked 99 for further review. There were 574 case files left to review. |
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