A memo by a lab scientist for the Oklahoma City Police...

A memo by a lab scientist for the Oklahoma City Police Department refers to the case of Malcolm Rent Johnson, who was executed on Jan. 6, 2000, after being convicted in 1982 of rape and murder. At Johnson's trial, Gilchrist testified that 6 samples taken from the murder victim's bedroom showed semen consistent with his blood type. But a July 30 re-examination of those slides showed "spermatozoa is not present". Ura Alma Thompson, 76, was found suffocated in her apartment on Oct. 27, 1981. Gilchrist told jurors that semen stains on the woman's bedspread and pillow case matched Johnson's blood type, which constituted the bulk of evidence used to tie Johnson to rape. Kyla Marshall and Laura Schile, two police chemists, confirmed that when the slides purported to contain sperm were retested, they revealed only a few fibers from the victim's bedspread and pillow case. Sperm does not deteriorate for decades, she said. Gilchrist was suspended with pay earlier this year after the FBI, which reviewed eight of her cases, concluded she had misidentified evidence or made other serious mistakes in 6 of them. Hearings began last week to determine whether she should be fired. The state attorney general's office, which is reviewing cases in which Gilchrist's testimony was pivotal, briefly re-examined Johnson's case earlier this year. The attorney general said then that he was satisfied enough separate evidence existed to warrant the execution, including the victim's property being found in Johnson's home.