Douglas Stewart Carter released on bail after 41 years on death row

Douglas Stewart Carter, now 71, was released on bail after spending 41 years awaiting execution for the 1985 murder of Eva Olesen, after re‑examined DNA evidence failed to link him to the crime.

Authorities sentenced Carter to death for the killing in Utah, but he consistently maintained his innocence, saying the signed confession was coerced.

Last year the Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial, citing flaws in investigators' conduct, and his release on bail was approved yesterday despite objections from the victim's family.

Details of the case and evidence

Olesen was stabbed multiple times and later shot in the back of the head at her home in Provo in February 1985. Court records show Carter, a native of Chicago who was living with his mother in Utah at the time, was suspected of killing her during a robbery.

Believing he was a suspect in another matter, Carter fled Utah but was eventually located in Nashville, Tennessee. During questioning he signed a confession he later said had been coerced. Although there was no physical evidence placing him at the scene, the jury convicted him on the basis of that confession and testimony from two witnesses who said he bragged about the killing.

In 2011 those witnesses recanted, saying police had instructed them to lie in court, given them money and gifts, and threatened them with deportation if they did not testify against Carter. The Utah Supreme Court subsequently ordered a new trial last year.

This month prosecutors announced that DNA testing excluded Carter as a possible source of blood found on a doorknob and excluded him from genetic material taken from the handle of a knife.

Photo: Geti)