Utah Man on Death Row for Decades Released on Bail After DNA Excludes Him

A Utah judge on Monday ordered the release on bail of a 71-year-old man who spent decades on death row for a 1985 killing, after prosecutors indicated that newly analyzed DNA evidence excluded him as a match. Douglas Stewart Carter was sentenced to death in 1985 after a jury convicted him of murdering Eva Olesen.

Carter has maintained his innocence, asserting that a signed confession was coerced. No physical evidence initially linked him to the crime scene. The jury convicted Carter, who is Black, based on the confession and testimony from two witnesses who later recanted, claiming they had been pressured by police and prosecutors. Olesen was white.

A DNA analysis conducted in response to a 2023 order for a new trial found that Carter was not a match to blood found on a doorknob at the crime scene or to genetic material recovered from the knife used in the murder. Judge Derek Pullan acknowledged that the DNA results undermined the case but stated that a reasonable jury could still find Carter guilty.

Carter was ordered to wear a GPS monitor as a condition of his release and to avoid contact with Olesen's family. He is expected to be released on bail with the monitor fitted. His attorney stated that Carter will require therapy to address the effects of his extended incarceration.

Pullan had previously scheduled a retrial for 2027. Last week, Utah County prosecutors withdrew their notice to seek the death penalty. Prosecutors stated on Monday that reassessing Carter's bail was "necessary and fair" as the state continues to examine the remaining evidence.

Carter, originally from Chicago, was living in Utah at the time of Olesen's death on Feb. 27, 1985. Court documents suggest the investigation initially focused on Carter, who was suspected of committing the murder during a robbery. By April 1985, Carter had left Utah, believing he was a suspect in an unrelated assault case. He was apprehended in Nashville, Tennessee, in June, where he signed a confession while being interrogated by a Provo detective.

Carter later claimed the confession was false, given after repeated threats from police. He was convicted and sentenced to death. A 1992 retrial again resulted in a death sentence, and subsequent appeals were rejected.

A significant development occurred in 2011 when the two witnesses from his original trial were located. They stated they had been instructed to lie in court and were given money and gifts by police, with instructions not to disclose the payments. They also reported being threatened with deportation if they did not implicate Carter.

After more than a decade of legal proceedings, the Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year, citing "multiple instances of intentional misconduct" by investigators and a prosecutor. The DNA analysis was performed following this order. Prosecutors have declined to comment on whether they are using the DNA evidence to search for other potential suspects.

Carter's defense attorneys have argued that witnesses reported seeing a white man fleeing the crime scene and that an investigator allegedly suppressed evidence pointing to other individuals, including the victim's husband, Orla Olesen. They contend that prosecutors were close to charging Orla Olesen before a police lieutenant intervened to continue his own investigation. Carter was identified as a suspect shortly thereafter.

Orla Olesen, who died in 2009, had told police he discovered his wife deceased in their home, partially undressed and with her hands bound. Theresa Olesen, a daughter-in-law of Eva Olesen, expressed concerns during the bond hearing regarding Carter's release, stating the family had hoped for a definitive DNA match and that the current results "doesn't mean he wasn't there."