A man from Utah, Douglas Stewart Carter, is set to be released on bail after spending several decades on death row, thanks to newly evaluated DNA evidence linked to a murder conviction from 1985.
Carter received a death sentence in 1985 after a jury determined he was responsible for the murder of Eva Olesen, who was the aunt of Provo’s police chief at the time. Despite a lack of physical evidence connecting him to the crime scene, Carter’s conviction was primarily based on a confession he claims was obtained under duress.
Additionally, two witnesses who testified against him during the trial later recanted, stating they had been coerced into implicating him through police bribery and threats of deportation.
At the time of Olesen’s murder on February 27, 1985, Carter, who originally hailed from Chicago, was residing with his mother in Utah. Olesen’s husband discovered her dead in their home, where she was found partially undressed and bound. She had suffered multiple stab wounds and had been shot, while the house itself showed signs of having been searched.
Carter’s defense team argues that witnesses reported seeing a white male fleeing the scene and claimed that crucial evidence indicating other potential suspects, including Olesen’s husband, Orla Olesen, was deliberately hidden by investigators. They assert that prosecutors were close to charging Mr. Olesen, but a lieutenant from the Provo police intervened to allow for further investigation.
Following the initial identification of Carter as a suspect in the robbery-related murder, he fled Utah in April 1985, believing he was also implicated in an unrelated assault. He was captured two months later in Nashville, Tennessee. It was during police interrogation that he signed a confession, which he later recanted as false.
In the same year, Carter was convicted and sentenced to death without the defense calling any witnesses during his trial. His legal team filed an appeal in 1986, asserting that racial bias and the victim’s connection to law enforcement influenced the fairness of the trial.
The Utah Supreme Court overturned his death sentence the following year, citing jury instruction errors. However, after a retrial in 1992, he was again sentenced to death, with subsequent appeals being denied over the years.
In 2011, two witnesses who had claimed that Carter boasted about the murder were located in Mexico. They revealed that police had instructed them to lie and had provided them with cash and gifts, along with threats of deportation if they refused to testify against Carter.
After years of legal disputes, the Utah Supreme Court last year mandated a new trial, identifying multiple instances of misconduct involving law enforcement and prosecutorial actions.
A retrial was initially set for 2027, but recent DNA analysis on evidence collected from the crime scene has excluded Carter as a match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material from the knife used in Olesen’s murder.
On Monday, a judge ordered the release of the 71-year-old Carter on bail. His attorney stated that he would be staying near his son, who had been adopted as a baby and only learned of Carter’s conviction years later. “We are profoundly grateful to see Doug finally go home, but we are also heartbroken by the theft of his life,” said defense attorney Neal Hamilton.
Theresa Olesen, the daughter-in-law of the victim, expressed that while the family hoped for a definitive match, the results do not eliminate Carter from having been at the crime scene. “We still do not believe that he is completely innocent,” she remarked, adding that there are other elements to consider and expressing hope for the continuation of the investigation.
While prosecutors have decided against pursuing the death penalty, they are still evaluating the case. They emphasized that the new evidence does not automatically exonerate Carter, noting that the weapon used in the murder was never recovered and that his confession remains a critical factor.
