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The Forensic Examiner, at the time of the crime during the first investigation, found semen at the crime scene that somewhat matched McCarthy's blood type making him responsible for the crime.

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Forensics Spring Midterm
Curtis McCarthy & Troy Gregg

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The police found $103 that Gregg stole from Simmons and Moore.

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The best argument against the death penalty is...

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The best argument against the death penalty is...

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I disagree with the death penalty because the prison system is supposed to help people get back on their feet and to reform them, also executing people because of their crimes doesn't make society any better than the criminals themselves.

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The DNA evidence tested that ultimately decided McCarthy's innocence was the testing between his hair and the hair found at the crime scene. Because the samples didn't match each other it was decided that Curtis was not at fault for the crime and that he was being exonerated due to improper forensic testing at the time of the crime.

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Dennis Weaver's eyewitness testimony identifying the car they were driving in and the headbands the victims were wearing also helped pin the crime onto Troy Gregg,

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Part of the evidence in Gregg's case was the testing of the bullets in the victim's bodies found by forensic scientist and tested by methods of ballistics. When the police caught Gregg they found a .25-caliber automatic pistol in his pocket and tested it against the bullets found to find that there was a match between the gun and the bullets connecting him to the crime.

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Other Oklahoma Exonerations

Curtis Edward McCarty was exonerated in 2007 after serving 21 years - including 19 years on death row - for a 1982 Oklahoma City murder he didn't commit. McCarty was convicted twice and sentenced to death three times based on prosecutorial misconduct and testimony from forensic analyst Joyce Gilchrist, whose lab misconduct has contributed to at least two other convictions later

overturned by DNA evidence.

The Crime and Arrest
On December 10, 1982, 18-year-old Pamela Kaye Willis was found murdered in the Oklahoma City home where she was staying. Willis was nude and she had been stabbed and strangled.

Curtis McCarty became a suspect because he was an acquaintance of the victim. Soon after the murder in 1983, Gilchrist compared hairs from the crime scene with McCarty's and found that they were not similar. Police interviewed McCarty several times over the next three years, but he was not arrested until 1985. At that time, Gilchrist covertly changed her notes and reversed her findings, saying now that the crime scene hairs could have been McCarty's. Attorneys for McCarty did not discover the change in Gilchrist's notes until 2000, when she was under investigation for fraud in other cases.

The Trials
At McCarty's trial in March 1986, the prosecution relied on the testimony of Gilchrist, an Oklahoma City Police chemist, who said that hairs from the crime scene could be attributed to McCarty. Based on the hairs, Gilchrist said McCarty "was in fact" at the crime scene. She also testified that McCarty's blood type matched the blood type of sperm found on the victim's nude body. Oklahoma City District Attorney Robert H. Macy commited misconduct in presenting the case to the jury witholding key evidence. The jury convicted McCarty and he was sentenced to death.

McCarty was on death row for two years before Oklahoma's highest court overturned his conviction due to prosecutorial misconduct, improper forensic procedures and comments made on the stand by Gilchrist. McCarty was retried in 1989 with Gilchrist again testifying for the state. The jury was again told that hairs from the crime scene could have come from McCarty. He was again convicted and sentenced to death.

Macy, who led both prosecutions against McCarty, sent 73 people to death row during his 21 year career - more than any other prosecutor in the country. Twenty of those 73 have been executed.

In 1995, an appellate court upheld McCarty's conviction but ordered new sentencing due to a jury instruction problem in the second trial. A new jury heard four days of testimony in 1996 and handed down McCarty's third death sentence.

Post-Conviction Appeals and Developments
In 2000, Gilchrist was under investigation for allegedly reporting false forensic results in other cases. That same year, she was asked to re-examine the hair evidence on appeal and she said that it would be suitable for DNA testing. However, when defense attorneys asked her to produce the evidence, she said it had been lost or destroyed. These hairs have never been found. At the close of the investigation, Gilchrist was fired due to the forensic fraud she had committed in several cases. Her false testimony has contributed to two other wrongful convictions that were later overturned by DNA testing, those of Jeffrey Todd Pierce and Robert Miller. She testified in thousands of cases during her 20-year career.

Attorneys for McCarty were able to secure DNA testing in 2002 on sperm recovered from the victim's body, and test results showed that the sperm did not match McCarty. The Innocence Project became involved in McCarty's case in 2003 and initially consulted with post-conviction attorneys Vicki Werneke and John Echols. In 2005, these attorneys won a new trial after an evidentiary hearing before judge Twyla Mason Gray, who ruled that Gilchrist's misconduct and bad-faith destruction of evidence had tainted McCarty's conviction. As a third trial was scheduled, McCarty was represented by the Innocence Project, along with attorneys Perry Hudson and Marna Franklin. In 2007, additional DNA testing showed that evidence recovered from scrapings of the victim's fingernails was from a male and did not match McCarty. Further forensic analysis showed that a bloody footprint on the victim's body could not have been McCarty's. Based on this exculpatory evidence, as well as the misconduct by Gilchrist, McCarty's attorneys moved to dismiss the charges before a third trial was held. On May 11, 2007, Judge Gray granted the motion and McCarty was released from state custody. Prosecutors did not appeal the decision.

When he was released, McCarty had been in Oklahoma prisons and jails for 22 years, 19 of which he spent on death row. He was the 15th person nationwide - and the third in Oklahoma - to be exonerated by DNA testing after serving time on death row.

After his release, McCarty, by his own description lived like a recluse in his parents' home. He filed a federal lawsuit seeking damages, but the lawsuit was dismissed.

In 2016, he was arrested by Oklahoma City police for possession of methamphetamine. At the time of the arrest, the police reported that McCarty said he was embarrassed and that "he was just really lonely and that he had trouble finding his place in society after his eventual release. In 2018, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison."

Report an error or add more information about this case.

Posting Date: Before June 2012
Last Updated: 5/17/2018

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Other Oklahoma Exonerations Curtis Edward McCarty was exonerated in 2007 after serving 21 years - including 19 years on death row - for a 1982 Oklahoma City murder he didn't commit. McCarty was convicted twice and sentenced to death three times based on prosecutorial misconduct and testimony from forensic analyst Joyce Gilchrist, whose lab misconduct has contributed to at least two other convictions later overturned by DNA evidence.

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the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime.

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Guilty

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Innocent

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Time Served: 21 years

Curtis Edward McCarty was exonerated in 2007 after serving 21 years - including 19 years on death row - for a 1982 Oklahoma City murder he didn't commit.

Curtis Edward McCarty was exonerated in 2007 after serving 21 years - including 19 years on death row - for a 1982 Oklahoma City murder he didn't commit. McCarty was convicted twice and sentenced to death three times based on prosecutorial misconduct and testimony from forensic analyst Joyce Gilchrist, whose lab misconduct has contributed to at least two other convictions later overturned by DNA evidence.

The Crime and Arrest
On December 10, 1982, 18-year-old Pamela Kaye Willis was found murdered in the Oklahoma City home where she was staying. Willis was nude and she had been stabbed and strangled.

Curtis McCarty became a suspect because he was an acquaintance of the victim. Soon after the murder in 1983, Gilchrist compared hairs from the crime scene with McCarty's and found that they were not similar. Police interviewed McCarty several times over the next three years, but he was not arrested until 1985. At that time, Gilchrist covertly changed her notes and reversed her findings, saying now that the crime scene hairs could have been McCarty's. Attorneys for McCarty did not discover the change in Gilchrist's notes until 2000, when she was under investigation for fraud in other cases.

The Trials
At McCarty's trial in March 1986, the prosecution relied on the testimony of Gilchrist, an Oklahoma City Police chemist, who said that hairs from the crime scene could be attributed to McCarty. Based on the hairs, Gilchrist said McCarty "was in fact" at the crime scene. She also testified that McCarty's blood type matched the blood type of sperm found on the victim's nude body. Oklahoma City District Attorney Robert H. Macy commited misconduct in presenting the case to the jury witholding key evidence. The jury convicted McCarty and he was sentenced to death.

McCarty was on death row for two years before Oklahoma's highest court overturned his conviction due to prosecutorial misconduct, improper forensic procedures and comments made on the stand by Gilchrist. McCarty was retried in 1989 with Gilchrist again testifying for the state. The jury was again told that hairs from the crime scene could have come from McCarty. He was again convicted and sentenced to death.

Macy, who led both prosecutions against McCarty, sent 73 people to death row during his 21 year career - more than any other prosecutor in the country. Twenty of those 73 have been executed.

In 1995, an appellate court upheld McCarty's conviction but ordered new sentencing due to a jury instruction problem in the second trial. A new jury heard four days of testimony in 1996 and handed down McCarty's third death sentence.

Post-Conviction Appeals and Developments
In 2000, Gilchrist was under investigation for allegedly reporting false forensic results in other cases. That same year, she was asked to re-examine the hair evidence on appeal and she said that it would be suitable for DNA testing. However, when defense attorneys asked her to produce the evidence, she said it had been lost or destroyed. These hairs have never been found. At the close of the investigation, Gilchrist was fired due to the forensic fraud she had committed in several cases. Her false testimony has contributed to two other wrongful convictions that were later overturned by DNA testing, those of Jeffrey Todd Pierce and Robert Miller. She testified in thousands of cases during her 20-year career.

Attorneys for McCarty were able to secure DNA testing in 2002 on sperm recovered from the victim's body, and test results showed that the sperm did not match McCarty. The Innocence Project became involved in McCarty's case in 2003 and initially consulted with post-conviction attorneys Vicki Werneke and John Echols. In 2005, these attorneys won a new trial after an evidentiary hearing before judge Twyla Mason Gray, who ruled that Gilchrist's misconduct and bad-faith destruction of evidence had tainted McCarty's conviction. As a third trial was scheduled, McCarty was represented by the Innocence Project, along with attorneys Perry Hudson and Marna Franklin. In 2007, additional DNA testing showed that evidence recovered from scrapings of the victim's fingernails was from a male and did not match McCarty. Further forensic analysis showed that a bloody footprint on the victim's body could not have been McCarty's. Based on this exculpatory evidence, as well as the misconduct by Gilchrist, McCarty's attorneys moved to dismiss the charges before a third trial was held. On May 11, 2007, Judge Gray granted the motion and McCarty was released from state custody. Prosecutors did not appeal the decision.

When he was released, McCarty had been in Oklahoma prisons and jails for 22 years, 19 of which he spent on death row. He is the 15th person nationwide - and the third in Oklahoma - to be exonerated by DNA testing after serving time on death row.

State: Oklahoma

Charge: Murder

Conviction: Murder

Sentence: Death

Incident Date: 12/10/82

Conviction Date: 03/29/86

Exoneration Date: 05/11/07

Served: 21 years

Race of Defendant: Caucasian

Race of Victim: Caucasian

Status: Exonerated by DNA

Type of Forensic Science Problem: Flawed Serology, Hair Analysis

Contributing Causes of Conviction: Government Misconduct, Informants, Unvalidated or Improper Forensic Science

Type of Crime: Homicide Related, Sex Crimes

Accused Plead Guilty: No

The Alternative Perpetrator Identified: No

Real Perpetrator Convicted of Subsequent Crime: No, Yes

Compensation: Not Yet

Innocence Project Involved: Yes

Death Penalty Case: yes

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Time Served: 21 years Curtis Edward McCarty was exonerated in 2007 after serving 21 years - including 19 years on death row - for a 1982 Oklahoma City murder he didn't commit.

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On November 21, 1973 Troy Gregg shot and killed two men he was hitch hiking with and robbed them taking off with the money and the gun he used on them. His victim's names were Fred Edward Simmons and Bob Durwood Moore, he was arrested for the crime on November 24, 1973 and was convicted and sent to death row, however the day before his execution he escaped prison and got into a bar fight a few days later that he died in during the month of July 1980.

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Pamela Kaye Willis was an 18 year-old-girl who was found nude, stabbed, and strangled. Murdered on December 10, 1982, Curtis McCarthy was the number one suspect in the case due to his close relationship with victim. McCarthy was convicted for the crime on March 29, 1986, and after serving 21 years in prison on death row, DNA testing from the crime scene exonerated McCarthy setting him free on May 11, 2007.