Man ordered released on bail after decades on Utah’s death row after DNA tests show no match to him

Rick Egan/Pool/The Salt Lake Tribune/AP

A Utah judge has ordered a 71-year-old man to be released on bail after he spent decades on death row for a 1985 killing, despite objections from the victim’s family, after prosecutors said newly analyzed DNA evidence did not match him.

Douglas Stewart Carter was sentenced to death that same year after a jury found him guilty of murdering Eva Olesen, an aunt of the Provo police chief at the time.

The state Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year, citing misconduct by investigators. Carter has maintained his innocence and says a signed confession was coerced.

No physical evidence linked him to the crime scene, but the jury convicted Carter, a Black man, based on the confession and two witnesses who said he bragged about killing Olesen, who was White.

Defense attorney Neal Hamilton said Carter will be placed in an extended stay accommodation near the family of his son, who was adopted by another family as an infant and didn’t learn about the conviction until years later. Carter also will need therapy to deal with his extended incarceration, Hamilton said.

“It’s not just as simple as, ‘Let’s let him go,’” Hamilton said. “He’s being released with 41 years of state-induced trauma and the effect it will have on him is very real.”

Chris Samuels/Pool/The Salt Lake Tribune/AP

Judge Derek Pullan had scheduled a two-month retrial for 2027, but last week Utah County prosecutors withdrew a notice that they intended to seek the death penalty.

The prosecutors said results of a DNA analysis received September 22 exclude Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of a knife used to stab Olesen, who was also shot.

Utah County prosecutor Erwin Petilos told the judge Monday that reassessing Carter’s bail was “necessary and fair” as the state continues to look at the remaining evidence in the case.

Carter, a Chicago native, had been living with his mother in Utah at the time of Olesen’s killing on February 27, 1985. Court documents indicate the investigation eventually focused on Carter, who was suspected of killing Olesen during a robbery.

By that April, Carter had fled Utah believing he was a suspect in an unrelated assault case, according to court documents. He was apprehended that June in Nashville, Tennessee, where Carter signed a confession while under interrogation from a Provo detective.

Carter said later that he had given a false confession after being repeatedly threatened by police. He was convicted and sentenced to death after a trial in which the defense called no witnesses. He was again sentenced to death after a 1992 retrial, and courts in Utah rejected numerous appeals from Carter in subsequent years.

A turning point came in 2011, when the two witnesses at his original trial were tracked down in Mexico. They said they had been told to lie in court and were given cash and gifts by police who told them not to disclose the payments. They also said police and prosecutors threatened them and their son with deportation if they did not implicate Carter.

More than a decade of legal wrangling followed before the Utah Supreme Court last year ordered a new trial, citing “multiple instances of intentional misconduct” by police and a prosecutor. A DNA analysis of the evidence was conducted in response to that order and prosecutors said the results arrived last week. They declined Monday to say whether they’re using the DNA evidence to search for other suspects with matching DNA.

Carter’s defense attorneys have said witnesses saw a white man fleeing the crime scene and an investigator suppressed evidence pointing to other suspects, including the victim’s husband, Orla Olesen.

They allege that prosecutors were close to filing charges against the husband, but a Provo police lieutenant asked them not to so he could continue investigating. Carter was identified as a suspect soon after, according to court documents.

Orla Olesen, a painting contractor who died in 2009, told police he found his wife dead in their home, partially undressed and with her hands tied behind her back.

Theresa Olesen, a daughter in law of Eva Olesen, said during Monday’s bond hearing that her family had “serious concerns” about Carter’s release. She said he should remain in the Utah County jail, where he was being held 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.”

“There are other factors and hopefully the investigation will continue,” she added. “We just want justice for Eva. And if he had any part of it we want that to be known.”

Rick Egan/Pool/《盐湖城论坛报》/美联社

犹他州一名法官下令释放一名 71 岁的男子，此前他因 1985 年的一起谋杀案在死囚牢房中度过了数十年。尽管受害者家属反对，但检察官表示，新分析的 DNA 证据与他不符。

同年，道格拉斯·斯图尔特·卡特被判处死刑，此前陪审团认定他谋杀了伊娃·奥莱森，伊娃·奥莱森是当时普罗沃警察局长的姑姑。

去年，州最高法院以调查人员行为不当为由，下令重审此案。卡特一直坚称自己无罪，并表示签署的认罪书是被迫作出的。

虽然没有物证将他与犯罪现场联系起来，但陪审团根据卡特的供述和两名证人的证词（这两名证人称卡特吹嘘自己杀害了白人奥尔森），判定这位黑人男子卡特有罪。

辩护律师尼尔·汉密尔顿表示，卡特将被安置在他儿子家附近的长期住所。他的儿子幼时被另一个家庭收养，多年后才得知卡特的犯罪记录。汉密尔顿还说，卡特需要接受心理治疗来应对长期监禁带来的心理创伤。

“事情并非像‘放他走’那么简单，”汉密尔顿说。“他被释放时带着41年来国家造成的创伤，这对他的影响是实实在在的。”

克里斯·萨缪尔斯/Pool/《盐湖城论坛报》/美联社

德里克·普兰法官已安排在 2027 年进行为期两个月的重审，但上周犹他州检察官撤回了他们打算寻求死刑的通知。

检察官表示，9 月 22 日收到的 DNA 分析结果排除了卡特与在门把手上发现的血迹以及从刺伤奥莱森（他也中枪）的刀柄上提取的遗传物质相匹配的可能性。

犹他州检察官欧文·佩蒂洛斯周一告诉法官，由于该州仍在审查此案的剩余证据，重新评估卡特的保释金是“必要且公平的”。

卡特是芝加哥人，1985 年 2 月 27 日奥尔森遇害时，他正和母亲住在犹他州。法庭文件显示，调查最终集中在卡特身上，他被怀疑在抢劫过程中杀害了奥尔森。

根据法庭文件，卡特于当年四月逃离犹他州，因为他认为自己是另一起无关袭击案的嫌疑人。同年六月，他在田纳西州纳什维尔被捕，并在普罗沃一名侦探的审讯下签署了认罪书。

卡特后来声称，他是在受到警方反复威胁后才做出虚假供述的。在一次辩方未传唤任何证人的审判中，他被判有罪并被判处死刑。1992年重审后，他再次被判处死刑。此后几年，犹他州法院驳回了卡特的多次上诉。

2011年，案情出现转折点。当时，卡特最初审判中的两名证人在墨西哥被找到。他们表示，有人指示他们在法庭上作伪证，并向他们支付现金和礼物，要求他们不要透露这些款项。他们还说，警方和检察官威胁他们和他们的儿子，如果他们不指证卡特，就会被驱逐出境。

经过十多年的法律纠纷，犹他州最高法院去年下令重审此案，理由是警方和一名检察官存在“多起故意不当行为”。根据该命令，检方对证据进行了DNA分析，并表示结果已于上周出炉。周一，检方拒绝透露是否会利用DNA证据寻找其他DNA匹配的嫌疑人。

卡特的辩护律师表示，目击者看到一名白人男子逃离犯罪现场，而调查人员压制了指向其他嫌疑人的证据，其中包括受害者的丈夫奥拉·奥莱森。

他们声称，检方当时几乎就要对丈夫提起诉讼，但普罗沃市的一名警官要求他们暂缓起诉，以便他能继续调查。法庭文件显示，卡特随后不久就被确认为嫌疑人。

2009 年去世的油漆承包商奥拉·奥莱森告诉警方，他发现妻子死在家中，衣衫不整，双手被绑在背后。

伊娃·奥莱森的儿媳特蕾莎·奥莱森在周一的保释听证会上表示，她的家人对卡特的获释“深感担忧”。她认为卡特应该继续被关押在犹他县监狱，等待新的审判。

“我们当然希望DNA分析能给出确凿的比对结果，”奥勒森谈到DNA分析时说。“但这并不意味着他当时不在场。”

她补充说：“还有其他因素，希望调查能够继续进行。我们只想为伊娃讨回公道。如果他参与其中，我们也希望真相大白。”