A Utah judge ordered the release on bail of Douglas Stewart Carter, a 71-year-old man who spent decades on death row for a 1985 murder, after prosecutors revealed that newly analyzed DNA evidence did not match him. Judge Derek Pullan made the decision on Monday, despite objections from the victim’s family, citing the exclusion of Carter as a possible match to biological material found at the crime scene.
Carter was originally convicted and sentenced to death in 1985 for the murder of Eva Olesen, an aunt of the Provo police chief at the time. The conviction relied heavily on a signed confession and testimony from two witnesses who later recanted, claiming they had been paid and threatened by police to lie. No physical evidence initially linked Carter to the scene, where Olesen was found stabbed and shot. The Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year, citing "multiple instances of intentional misconduct" by investigators and prosecutors.
The DNA analysis, received by prosecutors on September 22, excluded Carter as a match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of the knife used in the attack. While Judge Pullan noted that a reasonable jury could still conclude Carter committed the crime, he stated the results further undermined the state's case. Prosecutors are currently reassessing the remaining evidence and have withdrawn their notice of intent to seek the death penalty for the retrial, which had been scheduled for 2027.
As a condition of his release, Carter is required to wear a GPS monitor and avoid contact with the Olesen family. His defense attorney, Neal Hamilton, stated that Carter is expected to be fitted with the monitor and released to an extended stay accommodation near the family of his adopted son. Hamilton emphasized the psychological toll of Carter's incarceration, noting that he is being released with "41 years of state-induced trauma."
"It's not just as simple as, 'Let's let him go,'" Hamilton said. "He's being released with 41 years of state-induced trauma and the effect it will have on him is very real."
Defense attorneys have long argued that investigators suppressed evidence pointing to other suspects, including Olesen’s husband, Orla Olesen, who died in 2009. They contend that witnesses saw a white man fleeing the scene and that Carter was targeted after fleeing Utah in 1985, believing he was a suspect in an unrelated assault. Carter, a Chicago native who was living with his mother in Utah at the time, has consistently maintained his innocence, stating he gave a false confession after being repeatedly threatened by police during interrogation in Nashville, Tennessee.
Theresa Olesen, a daughter-in-law of the victim, expressed the family's frustration during the bond hearing, stating they had "serious concerns" about Carter's release. "By golly we were hoping for a concrete match," she said regarding the DNA results. "It doesn't mean he wasn't there. We just want justice for Eva. And if he had any part of it we want that to be known."
<small>Source: Yahoo News — read the original story there.</small>