Douglas Stewart Carter, a 71-year-old man from Chicago, has been released on bail after spending 41 years on death row in the United States. He was granted bail by a judge on Monday while awaiting a new trial over the 1985 murder of Eva Olesen in Provo, Utah. Carter must wear a GPS monitor while out of custody. His release comes after newly analysed DNA evidence excluded him as a possible match to genetic material linked to the killing.
Carter was convicted of murdering Olesen in February 1985 and sentenced to death. He had consistently maintained his innocence, arguing that a confession he signed during police interrogation had been coerced. The Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Carter last year, citing misconduct by investigators. Prosecutors said DNA testing excluded Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of the knife believed to have been used in the killing.
Olesen was stabbed multiple times and shot in the back of the head at her home. She was the aunt of a local police chief. Carter, originally from Chicago, was living with his mother in Utah when the killing occurred. Court documents showed that investigators suspected him of killing Olesen during a robbery. He later left Utah after believing he had become a suspect in an unrelated case. Carter was eventually arrested in Nashville, Tennessee, where he signed a confession during interrogation.
Despite the confession, investigators had no physical evidence directly connecting Carter to the crime scene. His conviction was instead secured through the confession and testimony from two witnesses who said he had bragged about the killing. Those witnesses later changed their accounts. In 2011, they said they had been directed to lie in court, received cash and gifts from police and were threatened with deportation if they refused to testify against Carter.
Carter’s lawyers also argued that witnesses had reported seeing a white man fleeing the scene. They further alleged that an investigator withheld evidence that pointed to Olesen’s husband, Orla Olesen, as a possible suspect. Orla Olesen, who died in 2009, had told police that he discovered his wife dead inside their home. Investigators believed the knife used in the attack came from the couple’s kitchen and found it near Olesen’s body. The firearm used to shoot her was never recovered.
Carter’s release was opposed by Olesen’s family, who argued that he should remain in custody until the new trial. Theresa Olesen, Eva Olesen’s daughter-in-law, told Monday’s bond hearing that her family had “serious concerns” about Carter’s release and said he should remain in custody pending a new trial. “By golly we were hoping for a concrete match,” Olesen said of the DNA analysis. “It doesn’t mean he wasn’t there.”
Carter’s defence lawyer, Neal Hamilton, urged prosecutors to end the case against his client. “If the state of Utah had their way, he would have been executed 15, 20 years ago before we discovered the misconduct,” he told Associated Press. The case highlights concerns about the use of coerced confessions and the reliability of witness testimony in capital cases.
Key points
- DNA evidence excluded Carter as a possible match to genetic material linked to the 1985 murder.
- Carter spent 41 years on death row before being released on bail.
- A new trial has been ordered for Carter due to misconduct by investigators.
