Douglas Stewart Carter, 71, has been ordered released on bail after spending 41 years on death row for a 1985 murder, following new DNA testing that excluded him as a possible match.
Carter was sentenced to death after being convicted of killing Eva Olesen, the aunt of the Provo police chief at the time. He has always denied the crime and said his confession was coerced.
The Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year, citing several cases of intentional misconduct by police and a prosecutor. His retrial was set for 2027, but prosecutors recently withdrew their notice to seek the death penalty.
Utah County prosecutors told the court that DNA results received on September 22 excluded Carter from blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of the knife used to stab Olesen, who was also shot.
Prosecutor Erwin Petilos said reviewing Carter’s bail was necessary and fair as the state examines the remaining evidence.
Carter’s conviction largely relied on his signed confession and two witnesses who said he bragged about killing Olesen. The witnesses were later found in Mexico in 2011 and said police pressured them to implicate Carter with cash and gifts. They also said officers and prosecutors threatened them and their son with deportation.
His lawyer, Neal Hamilton, said Carter would stay with his son’s family and receive therapy.
“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.”
