Nation's high court declines to hear Oklahoma inmate's appeal

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The US Supreme Court refuses to take up the appeal of an Oklahoma prison inmate who wants to be released from custody instead of be retried for a 1982 murder.<br/><br/>The nation's

Tuesday, November 15th 2005, 5:20 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The US Supreme Court refuses to take up the appeal of an Oklahoma prison inmate who wants to be released from custody instead of be retried for a 1982 murder.

The nation's high court Monday rejected the appeal of Curtis Edward McCarty without comment.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in June that McCarty should receive a new trial in the case of 18-year-old Pamela Kaye Willis after agreeing with a lower court that the misconduct of ex-Oklahoma City police chemist Joyce Gilchrist[pictured] denied McCarty a fair trial.

McCarty's new trial is set for March.

According to records, Gilchrist was found to have altered her conclusions and notes regarding the evidence in the case.

And Oklahoma County District Judge Twyla Mason Gray found last year that the former chemist had destroyed or lost critical evidence in the case and that her testimony exceeded the limits of forensic science.

McCarty has been tried and convicted twice before and sentenced to death.

Gilchrist was fired in 2001 after investigations of her work in a number of cases.