Curtis McCarty

You have often heard me say that it is not always the aspect of the true crime that fantasizes me, but the law itself and how things are conducted. Sometimes guilty people go free because either the evidence is not there to obtain a conviction or because the prosecutors did not do all that it took to get the conviction. Then are the times in which the prosecutor or the state witnesses did whatever it took, legal or illegal, to get their man. While in those cases, at least those that are caught, justice is not served for the family or families of the victims, it should prevent injustice being brought to innocent people. For people in Oklahoma City it seems it took decades.

If you do a search on Curtis McCarty you will find him on websites for The Innocence Project and those claiming he was exonerated. You will also see on those sites multiple references to the fact that he was convicted of a “crime he did not commit.” Police and prosecutors have argued against that. I am unsure what I think. You see it quite often when an acquittal is obtained or someone is released on a technicality where the prosecutors swear they got it right the first time and they close the books. Sometimes the majority of people agree, such as in the cases involving O.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony. And then there are the cases, a local one for me would be the Terrance Roach case, where much of the community agreed with his acquittal on murder charges and disagree that law enforcement has officially closed the case saying despite the verdict he was the perpetrator.

In this case Curtis McCarty was convicted twice and sentenced to death three times in the murder of eighteen year old Pamela Willis in 1982. According to the appeals courts his first conviction was overturned due to misconduct by the prosecutor as well as procedures and comments made by a lab technician. His second conviction was upheld but his sentence was vacated because of a jury instruction issue. This is when his third death sentence was given. Then, nineteen years after his first conviction his second conviction was overturned, again based on misconduct by a lab technician, the same technician from the first trial. Twenty-two years after he had been convicted McCarty was released from prison when a judge granted a dismissal of the case and the prosecutors did not appeal.

Curtis McCarty was/is not necessarily a good guy. Then again some would say the same about Robert “Cowboy Bob” Macy, the man who prosecuted McCarty twice. Not that I am all about quoting mass murderers but Timothy McVeigh once referred to Macy as a “blood thirsty killer hiding behind the law.” And although she was a woman, and not a man, some would argue the same points about Joyce “Black Magic” Gilchrist, the chemist and lab technician on the case. Now, I do not mention Macy and Gilchrist simply because supporters of McCarty think they railroaded him. There is always someone, somewhere who is convinced someone is innocent and the local D.A or some other official twisted things in a case. No, there is ample evidence that Macy and Gilchrist fabricated evidence and lied to juries in order to get convictions, including dozens of death row cases.

Pamela Willis was an eighteen year old girl, the daughter an Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs officer. She was found murdered in her Oklahoma City home on December 10, 1982. She had been raped, stabbed with a kitchen knife and then strangled with a rope. The only thing that trumps the murder of a member of law enforcement as far as reaction is the murder of an officer, especially while on duty. Hairs from the crime scene were taken but it is not clear as to when they were first compared to hairs belonging to McCarty. Keep in mind DNA was a long way away. When it came to hairs there was only the idea of “similarity” and when it came to things like blood and semen they could only be determined by type. But it did seem to still be an era in which things like fingernail clippings were taken.

It seems as if it is possible that McCarty did not show up on any kind of radar for officers until a year later. In September of 1983 a seven year old girl named Janelle Arlene Fowler went missing. She lived in a trailer with her mother and stepfather. Also living there was Curtis McCarty and a man named David Todd Osborn. Some articles spell his name as Osborne but the Department of Corrections spell it Osborn so I will use that spelling. Janelle's parents stated they had last seen her in her bed at around three in the morning. By all account everyone was questioned and at some point McCarty told investigators a story, but seemingly not before making a deal with them. According to McCarty he knew what happened to Janelle. He would claim that David Osborn had murdered the young girl by beating her with a baseball bat. Exactly two months after she disappeared, on November 17, 1983 investigators would find her body based on the instructions given to them by McCarty. The following month Osborn would plead guilty to the murder, admitting that he had done it and was given a life sentence. McCarty was never charged in the crime.

By 1985 the murder of Pamela Willis was still not solved but investigators thought they were getting closer. That same year Curtis McCarty pleaded guilty in neighboring Cleveland County to second degree rape that involved a fourteen year old. He was given a sentence of five years. Joyce Gilchrist, the lab technician for the Oklahoma City Police Department looked at the hairs from the Pamela Willis murder again. It has been alleged that at some earlier time she had compared the hairs to McCarty and did not find a similarity but in 1985 she “changed her notes and reversed her findings” saying that the hairs could in fact belong to McCarty.

Now, let me get back to Robert Macy and Joyce Gilchrist. Macy was known as “Cowboy Bob” and Gilchrist as “Black Magic.” The two seemingly worked hand in hand together. Unlike a lot of prosecutors, Macy prosecuted a lot of the cases that came into the office and he was very much about going after the death penalty. He has been called the deadliest prosecutor in the country and apparently although he left office in 2001 and died in 2011, that record still holds. An article in 2016 discussed what they called the five deadliest prosecutors and pointed out that when they left office the death penalty cases in their area drastically reduced. It was said that at one point one in seven death row inmates in the country could be attributed to one of those five prosecutors. The point the article was trying to make was that it was not the office or even the community that had pushed for the death penalty cases, but the person themselves. Although I will have to say that Macy was re-elected for several terms, lasting over twenty years. So, I could easily argue that the community wanted him there. That being said, Macy would take an “early retirement” in 2001, a year and a half before his term was set to end. Joyce Gilchrist was on paid leave at the time he announced his retirement and under investigation with the FBI. The rumor was that Macy had heard the stories coming out of the lab about Gilchrist for decades but he failed to investigate them himself and in fact often defended her findings.

Beginning in the 1980's there had been questions about how Joyce Gilchrist performed her duties. It is not unusual for defense attorney's to dispute facts or procedures but these rumors were also coming from inside the lab by fellow scientists. It is not completely clear exactly what prompted the investigation into her practices that apparently began in late 2000. She would later claim that she that the investigation was simply retaliation against her for sexual harassment claims she had made. Aside from this statement I found nothing that went into details of these claims or who it involved. But, I did find at least some information to lead me to believe that the investigation into her lab practices was justified. When it came to the McCarty case aside from the allegations that there was proof that she changed her previous results on the hair in 1985, although it was not discovered for many years, there was also the evidence that courts had overturned his convictions based on comments and procedures by Gilchrist. And it is McCarty's case that is an example of just how much Macy relied on Gilchrist. Gilchrist was said to have testified in “thousands” of cases in her twenty years with the department. At least twenty-three people had been sentenced to death in cases she had testified in and by 2018 at least eleven of those people had been executed, many before her deception was discovered. It has been said that her conduct and behavior has lead to at least five other cases being reversed. I will get into some of those later.

So in the McCarty case we have this prosecutor who was known to go after his targets and go after them hard. And you have a lab technician who seemingly could match anything to anyone and was said to have a way of “persuading juries” to see things her way. It seemed to many that Macy and Gilchrist went hand in hand.

McCarty's first trial was conducted in March of 1986. It appears that two witnesses, a jail inmate and a former girlfriend to McCarty, testified that he had confessed to the murder of Pamela Willis. One or both of them would testify that he had stated he had given Willis some LSD a few days prior and she owed him money. I found this interesting considering the profession of her father. I am unsure if this allegation of the motive worked more for McCarty or prosecutors. It seems a bit unlikely that if the investigators and the witness had fabricated the alleged confession that they would have used drugs as the motive considering this was the daughter of a law enforcement officer, especially one that specialized in the drug division. But, one never truly can know.

Gilchrist testified at the trial saying that the hairs found on Pamela Willis' body “could have been his hairs” but then in turn stated he “was in fact” at the scene saying that the blood type from the sperm found, matched McCarty's blood type. It was this comment in part that led the appeals court to overturn McCarty's conviction and sentencing. It was also stated that Robert Macy had “committed misconduct in presenting the case to the jury withholding key evidence” although to be fair I could never completely determine what that evidence was. A second trial was conducted in 1989.

Gilchrist once again testified and stated that the hairs found at the scene “could be his.” I can only also assume she stated the blood typing from the semen matched also. It does not sound as if she allowed herself to go any further than this. It has also been said that it had not yet been discovered that when Gilchrist first looked at the hairs she had claimed no similarity to McCarty. In the end once again McCarty was convicted and sentenced to death.

In 1995 the appeals court upheld McCarty's second conviction but they ordered new sentencing saying that there had been an error in jury instructions. In 1996, after four days of testimony McCarty was once again sentenced to death. This made two convictions and three death sentences against him in the Pamela Willis case.

In 2000 Gilchrist was asked once again to examine the hair evidence for an upcoming appeal. It has been said that she stated that the hairs were suitable for DNA testing but then soon after claimed that the hairs had either been lost or destroyed. In the meantime apparently the FBI investigation was heating up and by the end of the year she was on a paid leave suspension. She would be subsequently fired in 2001 and in May of that year Macy was announcing his early retirement. The investigation into Gilchrists' conduct led to over a thousand cases to be reviewed and led to several reversals and even some exonerations.

In 2002 the defense for McCarty was able to obtain DNA testing done on the sperm found in the Willis case. The results showed that it was not a match to McCarty. The following year The Innocence Project got involved in the case. In 2005 they were able to obtain a reversal of McCarty's conviction and sentence due to the misconduct allegations and a new trial was ordered.

While the defense could never have the hairs examined as they were never recovered, they had apparently been able to have DNA testing done on material that had been found under Pamela Willis' fingernails. In early 2007 the results came back and apparently were not a match to McCarty. There had also been a blood footprint on Willis' naked body that was determined not to belong to McCarty.

I want to stop here for a second and point out that these results from 2002 through 2007 through my research stated that they were not a match to McCarty. However, I must say that many of those “results” were announced by articles or sites that were pro- McCarty and would tout his exoneration. I have found nothing from the prosecutors office other than for them to say they still believe McCarty to be guilty. My point in this is that it is possible that the results were “inconclusive” which is not the same thing as not a match. Granted in many situations where the results are said to be inconclusive you will see that a particular person cannot be ruled out, but again, in the context of where I found this information, that conclusion would not have fit their needs.

Due to the results found the defense attorney filed for charges to be dismissed just prior to a third trial starting. On May 11, 2007 the judge granted this request due to the new evidence and the issues surrounding Gilchrist. But, it should be pointed out a quote made by the judge. “My compassion in this case is not for this defendant because I believe he was involved in some way in what is so horrific.” She was making clear that her granting of the dismissal was solely based on the law and the way things had been done. The prosecution did not appeal her decision but have argued that McCarty's release, which happened the following day, was not an exoneration, and they believe is still the guilty party in the death of Pamela Willis. The problem was that between lost evidence, evidence not likely preserved correctly and the twenty-two years that had passed, not to mention all of the issues surrounding Gilchrist and even Macy, the likelihood of a conviction would have been slim.

While I did not come across the early appeal decisions in this case I did find some information later based on the two trials that I found questionable as to their admittance into the court. In both trials the jury had been made aware not only of his 1985 conviction for rape but also the 1983 murder of Janelle Fowler. The rape conviction I can see being allowed in the court as he did plead guilty and it was a conviction on his record. However, it was said that throughout the proceedings the assistant working with Macy continually criticized the Cleveland County prosecutors for giving him such a short sentence in the rape of a fourteen year old. I find this tactic to be unreasonable and question the legality of it. It is one thing to bring up his criminal past but it seems to me to be another to basically tell a jury, who is preparing to determine the fate of a man that he was convicted but he did not get enough time. I should also point out that the rape occurred nearly three years after the murder of Pamela Willis and he was caught for the rape. I say this because the rape, nor any time he was given, or served would have prevented Pamela Willis' murder. In fact, the reverse could have been true. Had he been caught for the Willis murder sooner it could have saved the young girl from the rape.

I also question the legality of allowing the information about Janelle's murder into his trials. He was never charged in that crime although it seems apparent that he was likely involved. David Osborn pleaded guilty to first degree murder in that case and was given a life sentence. But, at McCarty's trial (I believe the second one but I could be mistaken), Osborn went on the stand and alleged that it had not been him who killed Janelle but it had been McCarty. He would claim that it was after the young girl resisted as McCarty attempted to sexually assault her. It is unclear whether Osborn was asked why if he was now saying years later that he had not committed the murder he had pleaded guilty. It was however revealed that Osborn was told by Macy that if he testified against McCarty he would review Osborn's case. Osborn remains in prison as of 2018 so while I cannot prove Macy did not look over Osborn's case, I can say it appears that nothing came of it. So in this situation they allowed a crime, one he had not been charged with, to be entered into the court and allowed the convicted killer to change his story and implicate McCarty. I personally believe that it was because of the nature of the crime that it was even considered by prosecutors. They knew that by telling the jurors that this defendant had been vile enough to murder an innocent seven year old child then he was vile enough to do just about anything and needed to be put away, or “put down.” I should be fair in saying that I am unsure if this information was presented during the trials or the sentencing phase but either way my opinion still stands.

Another thing that I find a bit odd is that as dangerous as the prosecutors proclaimed McCarty to be and the fact that they insisted he was guilty of the murder of Willis, as well as Janelle Fowler, that he was not re-arrested for a crime for more than nine years. I would think that investigators would have been sitting on him as well as looking at other crimes. Police officers and prosecutors do not like to be “proven” wrong and in so many cases they will keep tabs on the person as well as look for other crimes they can put on the person. I would think this would have been even more so the case considering Pamela Willis was the daughter of a law enforcement officer and the fact that the dismissal of charges was not necessarily based on his innocence but mishandling of the case.

To add to this McCarty had filed a lawsuit against Glichrist, the chief of police, and the city of Oklahoma City presumably arguing unlawful arrest among other things. The initial ruling by a judge stated that by the time it was filed it was barred by the statue of limitations. McCarty appealed that decision but in July 2011 it was affirmed. Even still this also had to be a thorn in the side of law enforcement, prosecutors and even the city.

In June of 2016 McCarty was the passenger in a truck that was pulled over for expired tags. Inside the truck was allegedly a backpack belonging to McCarty. Inside the backpack methamphetamine was found as well as small empty baggies and a scale. He was arrested and apparently pleaded guilty but failed to go to court the day of his sentencing. He was finally found and re-arrested. In May of 2018 he was given a ten year sentence for possession of a controlled substance. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections website only allows me the ability to know the sentence and the fact that it is an active case in which he is incarcerated. There is no information pertaining to any release date of any kind.

I have to admit that as far as McCarty's guilt in the Pamela Willis murder I am on the fence. I believe this to be a case in which had the prosecutor, and the lab technician left things well enough alone they could have probably gotten him. In the same respect as time has gone on and scientific discoveries have been made that have led investigators to preserve evidence differently I wonder if that too played a role in things. If the latter is the case then it could be understood to an extent. While results claim that the semen DNA recovered at the scene did not match McCarty I did not find anything that disputed that it came from the same blood type. So, in that matter I cannot say that Gilchrist lied about those results, although few could argue that she did not embellished them by saying “for a fact” he was at the scene. Before I can decide what I think about his guilt in this crime I need to know more about the witnesses and the evidence.

With that being said, as I stated in the beginning there are few who doubt that McCarty is not a good guy. He pleaded guilty to raping a young girl and there seems to be no doubt that he was involved in the murder of a seven year old if the information is correct. I can only assume that at the very least he did in fact lead investigators to her body and fingered David Osborn as the murderer. Since he was never charged, in the eyes of the law he was not responsible. However, just based on what we do know that does not necessarily seem plausible. Based on my research on Robert Macy I do not rule out the possibility that David Osborn was later “played” by the prosecutor to get him to say what Macy wanted to hear so as to have his own case looked at and put more on McCarty. That does not mean that I think David Osborn is innocent either.

But, if we put all of this together and believe that McCarty is guilty of all of these things I still find it unusual that it would be nine years before he was caught doing something illegal again, and then for it not to be at the very least a sex related crime. Even the two murders he has been linked to or believed to have committed involved sexual acts. It seems rather odd to me that this violent predator would stop. Some I am sure would argue that his twenty-two years in prison changed him, but if that is the case, and it is possible then why do we hear so often that there is no cure for this sort of predator? In interviews he did indicate that he had issues re-entering society after twenty-two years in prison and so the drug issue could be more related to that than to his personality or behaviors. It really is hard to say.