DNA Breakthrough Frees Utah Death Row Inmate After 41 Years

​PROVO, Utah — After spending more than four decades on death row for a murder he has long maintained he did not commit, 71-year-old Douglas Stewart Carter walked out of custody on bail following new DNA results that cleared him of genetic material recovered from the crime scene.

​Carter was originally sentenced to death in 1985 for the murder of Eva Olesen, a Provo homemaker who was the aunt of the local police chief at the time. Olesen was found stabbed and shot inside her home.

​The state Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year following mounting disclosures of investigator misconduct, including the revelation that key trial witnesses had been coerced and coached by law enforcement. At his initial trial, no physical evidence tied Carter, who is Black, to the crime. His conviction relied heavily on a confession he maintained was coerced, alongside testimony from witnesses who later recanted.

​The turning point came when newly analyzed DNA profiling from the Utah State Crime Lab excluded Carter as a possible match for blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of the murder weapon.

​During a bond hearing, Judge Derek Pullan noted that while the state could still pursue a retrial, the scientific exclusions severely undermined the prosecution’s legacy case. Defense attorney Neal Hamilton emphasized the immense psychological toll of Carter’s prolonged confinement.

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​“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.”

​Carter is set to reside in extended-stay accommodations near family as legal proceedings for his impending new trial move forward.