Oklahoma City not liable in man’s wrongful conviction, court rules

This is a surprising ruling that should be appealed further. The police chemist was working as an agent of the city and one would think that the city had a duty to see that she was doing her job properly

An appeals court Monday upheld a lower court’s decision that Oklahoma City is not liable in the case of a man who was wrongfully convicted of kidnapping and rape because of false testimony by disgraced former police chemist Joyce Gilchrist.

David Johns Bryson was convicted in 1983 after Gilchrist’s testimony that his hair and semen were consistent with samples found at the scene.

His conviction was overturned 17 years later after problems arose with Gilchrist’s work, and a re-examination of the evidence found his semen did not match that of the attacker.

Bryson filed a lawsuit and won a $16.5 million judgment against Gilchrist [Which would have netted him zilch]. However, a federal court dismissed his suit against the city because, at the time of his conviction, the city did not have prior knowledge of Gilchrist’s false testimony.

Bryson appealed, claiming the city didn’t properly train and supervise Gilchrist. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the lower court’s ruling, saying there wasn’t evidence the city knew Gilchrist was falsifying evidence.

“We are sympathetic to Plaintiff’s plight and find it deplorable that the conditions that led to his unjust confinement were permitted to continue for so long a time after the city was put on notice of the deficiencies in its forensic laboratory program,” the court wrote. “Nevertheless, we see no basis in the summary judgment record for holding the City liable in this case.”

Gilchrist was fired in 2001 after a review of her work found she falsified evidence and testimony in numerous cases. The city has faced several lawsuits stemming from her work.

Original report here




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