Curtis Edward McCarty

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	22
Year Crime:	1982
Year Convicted:	1986
Year Cleared:	2007
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Oklahoma
County or Region of Crime:	Oklahoma
City of Crime:	Oklahoma City
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Curtis Edward McCarty was wrongly convicted in 1986 of the 1982 stabbing and strangling of Pamela Kaye Willis, based on the testimony of Oklahoma City Crime Lab technician Joyce Gilchrist. Curtis McCarty was sentenced to death. McCarty's death sentence was overturned twice on appeal, first in 1989 and again in 1996, but both times he was re-sentenced to death. On May 11, 2007, the murder charge against Curtis McCarty was dismissed based on the U.S. Supreme Court's 1988 decision in Arizona vs. Youngblood that it is a due process violation if evidence that has likely exculpatory value is destroyed or lost intentionally. Judge Gray said Gilchrist had acted in "bad faith," and "most likely did destroy or intentionally lose" hair that was crucial evidence in McCarty's trial. McCarty spent a total of 18 years on death row."
Conviction Caused By:	Erroneous expert testimony that crime scene hairs matched Curtis McCarty.
Innocence Proved By:	"Charges dismissed on May 11, 2007 based on crime lab technician Joyce Gilchrist's intentional destruction or losing of potentially exculpatory hair evidence."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	Claim denied by State of Oklahoma.
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	23
Age When Released:	44
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Judge frees Oklahoma man facing execution, By Henry Weinstein, Los Angels Times, May 12, 2007"
Information Location 1:	"http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/scotus/la-na-dna12may12,1,6418274.story?coll=la-news-politics-supreme_court"
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Curtis Edward McCarty

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

22

Year Crime:

1982

Year Convicted:

1986

Year Cleared:

2007

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Oklahoma

County or Region of Crime:

Oklahoma

City of Crime:

Oklahoma City

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Erroneous expert testimony that crime scene hairs matched Curtis McCarty.

Innocence Proved By:

"Charges dismissed on May 11, 2007 based on crime lab technician Joyce Gilchrist's intentional destruction or losing of potentially exculpatory hair evidence."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Claim denied by State of Oklahoma.

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

23

Age When Released:

44

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Judge frees Oklahoma man facing execution, By Henry Weinstein, Los Angels Times, May 12, 2007"

Information Location 1:

"http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/scotus/la-na-dna12may12,1,6418274.story?coll=la-news-politics-supreme_court"

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Movie About Case:

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