Newly found Gilchrist files damaged by moisture, mold

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Newly found Gilchrist files damaged by moisture, mold

2001-07-10

By Baldwin Staff Writer

Oklahoma City police files needed for review in the Joyce Gilchrist

investigation that turned up last week are moldy and water-damaged. About a

dozen of the records are too deteriorated to examine.

More than 60 percent of the 203 police files that arrived at the Oklahoma

State Bureau of Investigation are damaged, officials said.

" Fifty files were spread around our laboratory conference room over the

weekend so they could dry out, " OSBI spokeswoman Kym Koch said Monday.

Missing Oklahoma City police files needed in the Joyce Gilchrist

investigation were discovered damaged in the basement at 616 Colcord. A

search for a personnel record turned up a plumbing problem and the wet,

moldy laboratory records.

STAFF PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS

A team of five state criminalists examining laboratory work in cases

assigned to Gilchrist found that about 130 of the files were damaged, Koch

said.

Criminalists are reviewing Gilchrist's lab work to determine whether she

followed proper scientific techniques.

The 1990 files had been missing since a multiagency investigation started

looking into the work of Gilchrist, a police lab chemist, in May.

Assistant Police Chief Bill Citty said the files were found in the basement

of 616 Colcord Drive when a plumbing problem was discovered sometime during

the last month.

The leak was discovered when an employee was searching for some old

personnel records, Citty said.

" We are not sure how long there had been a leak. The problem has been

fixed, " Citty said. " When we discovered (the files), we turned them over. "

Surplus furniture and public relations brochures also were stored with the

personnel and laboratory files. Citty said there was no crime-case evidence

stored in the basement of the building, which the Oklahoma City Police

Department purchased about 10 years ago.

The building houses the police DNA and serology laboratories and internal

affairs, recruiting and public relations offices. The police department

leases a portion of the building to the city for office space, Citty said.

Of the 203 newly discovered files, criminalists found 70 cases where the

district attorney or victim declined to file charges. Therefore, no

laboratory testing was done, Koch said.

The agency previously identified 1,448 cases assigned to Gilchrist. So far,

the OSBI has re-examined 294 of those cases and has recommended 44 for

additional scrutiny.

The OSBI is reporting its findings in the Gilchrist investigation to the

state attorney general's office and the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System.

Those agencies are reviewing trial transcripts and will determine whether

Gilchrist's work was significant to a conviction and whether retesting of

evidence is necessary.

The FBI has accused Gilchrist of shoddy forensic work in five criminal cases

and has criticized her testimony in one case.

Gilchrist, who is on paid administrative leave, has denied wrongdoing.

Gilchrist will not consent to an interview with The Oklahoman on the advice

of her attorney, Melvin Hall.

The attorney general's office also is reviewing all death row cases in which

Gilchrist testified or conducted analysis. Attorney General Drew Edmondson

expected his review to be completed next week.

Investigation continues in the 1991 murder case that sent Alfred

to death row. was convicted of first-degree murder in the

bludgeoning death of Elaine , a University of Oklahoma student who was

killed at age 21 while working at the Pilot Recreation Community Center in

west Oklahoma City.

U.S. District Judge Ralph G. was critical of Gilchrist in '

s 1999 federal death penalty review.

said Gilchrist gave " untrue " and " misleading " testimony.

noted that Gilchrist had clear knowledge of DNA test results that would have

pointed to the innocence of on two of the five charges leveled

against him, but neither she nor Oklahoma County prosecutors shared that

information with 's defense attorney as required by court rules.

upheld 's death-penalty murder conviction but overturned

his convictions on lesser charges of first-degree rape and forcible anal

sodomy. had been given a 100-year sentence on the rape conviction

and 20 years on the sodomy charge.

In the case, criticized Gilchrist for testifying that

certain DNA analyses performed by the FBI were " inconclusive " when those

tests revealed that 's DNA was not present on samples that were

tested.

That testimony was " without question, untrue, " wrote.