Douglas Stewart Carter, a 71-year-old man, was granted bail in Utah after DNA testing cleared him of a 1985 homicide. Carter spent decades on death row for the killing of Eva Olesen in Provo before the Utah Supreme Court cited police misconduct.
DNA from a doorknob and knife handle clears Douglas Carter
Newly analyzed genetic evidence has fundamentally dismantled the state's case against Douglas Stewart Carter. According to the report, DNA analysis received on September 22 excluded Carter as a match for blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of the knife used to kill Eva Olesen. While Judge Derek Pullan noted that a jury could theoretically still find Carter guilty, these findings severely undermine the original conviction.
The release comes after a long period of incarceration for the 71-year-old, who now faces the daunting task of reintegrating into a society he has not seen in years. Carter is currently required to wear a GPS monitor and is prohibited from contacting the family of Eva Olesen while he awaits further legal proceedings.
The Mexico recantations and police payments of 2011
The path to Carter's release was paved by a shocking discovery made over a decade ago... In 2011, two witnesses from the original trial were located in Mexico, where they admitted they had been paid in cash and gifts by police to provide false testimony against Douglas Stewart Carter. As the report says,these witnesses claimed that police and prosecutors threatened them and their son with deportation if they refused to implicate Carter in the 1985 killing.
This pattern of intentional misconduct eventually reached the Utah Supreme Court, which ordered a new trial last year. The court's decision highlighted multiple instances where police and prosecutors manipulated the legal process to secure a death sentence, despite the lack of physical evidence linking Carter to the crime scene in Provo.
The suppressed evidence regarding Orla Olesen and a White suspect
The case against Douglas Stewart Carter echoes a broader, systemic trend of racial bias and "tunnel vision" in criminal investigations. Attorneys for Carter, who is Black, pointed out that witnesses had seen a White man fleeing the scene of the crime. Furthermore, the defense alleges that an investigator suppressed evidence that could have pointed toward other suspects, most notably the victim's husband, Orla Olesen.
Court documents indicate that prosecutors were nearly ready to file charges against Orla Olesen, who died in 2009, but were discouraged from doing so by a Provo police lieutenant . This intervention allowed investigators to shift their focus toward Douglas Stewart Carter, who was later coerced into a signed confession while being interrogated by a Provo detective in Nashville.
Who actually killed Eva Olesen?
Despite the DNA exclusions, several critical questions remain unanswered. Most prominently, the identity of the actual killer of Eva Olesen remains a mystery, especially since the primary alternative suspect, Orla Olesen, is deceased . It remains unclear why the Provo police lieutenant specifically urged prosecutors not to charge the husband in 1985, a decision that effectively redirected the investigation toward Carter.
There is also uncertainty regarding the state's next move. While a two-month retrial was originally planned for next year, Utah County prosecutor Erwin Petilos recently withdrew the notice to pursue it. Whether the state of Utah will move for a full exoneration or continue to examine the remaining evidence remains to be seen.
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