The Devil in Disguise? : The Unbelievable Incompetence/Criminality of Joyce Gilchrist & The Fight to Save Anthony Sanchez
Based on flawed forensic analysis, Michael Blair spent 15 years on death row for a crime that he did not commit.
https://innocenceproject.org/cases/michael-blair/
Based on flawed forensic analysis, Malcolm Rent Johnson was executed for a crime many suspect he did not commit.
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/02/us/oklahoma-retraces-big-step-in-capital-case.html?pagewanted=2
Based on flawed forensic analysis, Curtis McCarty spent 20 years on death row for a crime that he did not commit.
https://innocenceproject.org/cases/906/
Based on flawed forensic analysis, Johnny Edward Tall Bear spent 26 years on death row for a crime that he did not commit.
Based on flawed forensic analysis, Jeffrey Pierce spent 15 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
https://innocenceproject.org/cases/jeffrey-pierce/
Based on flawed forensic analysis, David Bryson spent 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
https://innocenceproject.org/cases/david-johns-bryson/
Every single one of these exonerations have one thing in common, the forensic analysis was performed by disgraced Oklahoma City Police Department specialist Joy Gilchrist.
After the firestorm around Gilchrist’s ineptitude exploded, an investigation was commenced that outlined a variety of problems with her work, including (1) missing evidence in numerous cases; (2) contamination issues due to evidence being “stacked all over the chemist’s area”; (3) systematic destruction of rape evidence after two years, well before the statute of limitations had expired; (4) lack of peer review in many cases; and (5) absence of proficiency testing, although such testing had been paid for.
Of the dozens of death penalty cases that Gilchrist worked on, at least half have already been executed. How many of those do you think were innocent?
When interviewed by Dan Rather in 2001 during a 60 Minutes segment concerning Joyce Gilchrist and her cases, former chief forensic scientist in Kansas City, Missouri John Wilson, said this, “The whole criminal justice system has failed.”
https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1097&context=faculty_publications
Joyce Gilchrist died in 2015…her legacy of terror remains. Just ask the people still sitting in prison based on her lies.
How could anyone think it right to execute someone when Gilchrist was involved in their case? The possibility of a mistake is simply too great.
Take for instance, the case of Anthony Sanchez. Based on evidence that Joyce Gilchrist would have interacted with (as a supervisor…in the laboratory described above), Sanchez was convicted of the 1996 murder of Juli Busken in Norman, Oklahoma. In April, Sanchez is scheduled to be executed. Surely Gilchrist’s connection alone should give us pause.
Even for those who are supportive of the death penalty, the words execution and doubt should never go together. When Gilchrist is involved, they always will.
sign the petition to stop the execution of Anthony Sanchez at https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-the-execution-of-anthony-sanchez-in-oklahoma/?fbclid=IwAR12AQ4H3atgKAEgAzBnCS5lTAG5Fu1AkVP2GAQJc3Fe9nB2OSefizmQO3Q
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