An innocent African-American man who spent 40 years on death row in Utah has been released on bail after new DNA testing excluded him from a 1985 murder scene in Provo, according to a report by the New York Post.
Douglas Stewart Carter was released on September 28 pending a retrial after DNA samples collected from the crime scene failed to match his genetic profile. Prosecutors announced on September 23 that they would no longer seek the death penalty against him, following the return of forensic test results on September 22.
The decision marks a major turn in a legal saga that began four decades ago in Provo, a city located in Utah County south of Salt Lake City. Carter was convicted in December 1985 for the murder of 57-year-old Eva Olesen, a white woman who was the aunt of the local police chief.
The 1985 murder and conviction
Olesen was killed in February 1985 inside her home in Provo. Investigators found that she had been shot several times and subsequently stabbed. Detectives built a case against Carter alleging that he had broken into the residence to commit a robbery.
At the time of the trial, prosecutors presented no physical evidence connecting Carter to the crime scene. Instead, the conviction relied entirely on statements from two witnesses who claimed Carter had boasted to them about killing Olesen. Following multiple police interrogations, Carter confessed to the crime, and a jury convicted him later that year based on the witness testimony.
Carter was sentenced to death in December 1985. A judicial review in 1992 upheld his sentence, and authorities scheduled his execution for 1995. That execution was put on hold following a series of legal appeals filed on his behalf.
Recanted testimony and concealed evidence
Throughout his imprisonment, Carter insisted that his initial confession had been beaten out of him by law enforcement officers during interrogation. A major breakthrough in his defense effort occurred in 2011, when activists working on his case tracked down the two key prosecution witnesses in Mexico.
Both men admitted that police detectives had threatened them with deportation to force them into giving false testimony against Carter. They revealed that investigators subsequently paid them money after the trial to maintain their silence.
Defence investigators also uncovered evidence that had been withheld from the original trial court. Eyewitnesses near the scene in 1985 reported seeing a white man running away from Olesen's home immediately after hearing gunshots. Investigators had also considered Olesen's husband as a potential suspect, but those investigative leads were concealed from the defense and the jury during the proceedings.
DNA results and release on bail
Forensic technology advanced significantly in the decades following the initial investigation. On September 22, official results arrived from tests conducted on physical samples collected in 1985 from the door handle and knife handle at the crime scene. The DNA profile recovered from the objects did not match Carter.
Following the disclosure of the DNA findings, prosecutors formally withdrew their request for the death penalty on September 23. Five days later, on September 28, Carter walked out of custody after being granted bail while judicial authorities determine the future of the case.
The victim's family expressed strong opposition to his release. Olesen's daughter-in-law stated that the family had hoped for a conclusive DNA match and maintained that the absence of his DNA on the handles did not prove Carter was absent from the home during the attack.
Broader wrongful conviction reviews
Carter's release adds to a series of high-profile reviews of historic capital cases across the United States. In a similar case in Alabama, a judge recently overturned the conviction of a man who spent 40 years in prison for the murder of his wife, ruling that the prosecution had relied on scientific evidence that was invalid.
Legal proceedings in Carter's case remain ongoing as prosecutors decide whether to pursue a retrial or dismiss the charges entirely.
