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| Executed inmate's file lost |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/03/2001 |
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Oklahoma City officials say they have lost the forensic case file of a man who was executed this year for a murder conviction based largely on circumstantial evidence and the testimony of a police chemist accused by the FBI of doing shoddy work. The file of Malcolm Johnson is among a number of missing 1981 case files, assistant municipal counselor Richard Smith said in a letter to defense attorney Doug Parr. Parr received the letter after filing an open records lawsuit in an attempt to examine the file. He said he will seek other documents he hopes will shed light on Johnson's case. Johnson was executed January 6 for the 1981 murder of 76-year-old Ura Alma Thompson, who was raped and killed in her Oklahoma City apartment. Johnson was convicted in part on the testimony of police department forensic chemist Joyce Gilchrist, who has been on paid leave from the police department since February. Hundreds of cases involving her work are being investigated by state and federal agencies for alleged shoddy practices and false or misleading testimony. The FBI accused her of shoddy forensic work in five criminal cases. Eleven death row inmates whose cases she worked on have been executed; others are under death sentences. Gilchrist has denied wrongdoing. Parr is a board member of the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, which has been active in the investigating problems arising from Gilchrist's work. Johnson's case is 'probably the most arguable of all of the cases where someone was convicted and executed,' Parr said. |
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