Convicted Killer Set Free

Friday, May 11th 2007, 11:47 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A man whose been convicted twice and sentenced to die three times for a 1982 murder in Oklahoma City is being set free. A judge Friday dismissed murder charges against Curtis Edward McCarty saying the case can't escape the taint of former Oklahoma City police chemist Joyce Gilchrist.

Prosecutors say they won't appeal and McCarty could be released Friday.

McCarty was first convicted in 1986 of killing 18-year-old Pamela Kaye Willis but the conviction was overturned because of improper testimony from Gilchrist.

He was convicted again in 1989 and that conviction was overturned two years ago.

Gilchrist was fired in September 2001 after 21 years at the Oklahoma City Police Department as a chemist.

Her firing came after an investigation by the FBI and investigations were started into more than 1,400 cases in which she was involved.