Utah Judge Orders Release of Man After 41 Years on Death Row Over DNA Evidence
Utah Judge Orders Release of Man After 41 Years on Death Row Over DNA Evidence
Utah Judge Orders Release of Man After 41 Years on Death Row Over DNA Evidence
A Utah judge has ordered the release on bail of a 71-year-old man who spent decades on death row for a 1985 murder after prosecutors said newly analysed DNA evidence did not match him.
Douglas Stewart Carter was sentenced to death in 1985 after a jury found him guilty of murdering Eva Olesen, the aunt of the Provo police chief at the time.
The Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year, citing misconduct by investigators. Carter has consistently maintained his innocence, arguing that a signed confession used against him was obtained under coercion.
Although no physical evidence linked Carter to the crime scene, the jury convicted him based on the confession and testimony from two witnesses who claimed he had bragged about killing Olesen, who was White. Carter is Black.
His defence attorney, Neal Hamilton, said Carter would be placed in an extended-stay accommodation near the family of his son, who was adopted by another family as an infant and only learned about his father’s conviction years later.
Hamilton added that Carter would also need therapy to help him cope with the effects of his prolonged incarceration.
“It’s not just as simple as, ‘Let’s let him go.’ He’s being released with 41 years of state-induced trauma, and the effect it will have on him is very real,” Hamilton said.
The latest development comes as Carter awaits further proceedings in the case following the court’s decision to order a retrial.
Utah Judge Orders Release of Man After 41 Years on Death Row Over DNA Evidence
