PROVO, UT — A Utah judge on Monday ordered Douglas Stewart Carter released on bail while he awaits further proceedings in a murder case that has kept him on death row for decades. Carter, now 71, was convicted in the 1985 killing of Eva Olesen and has long said he was forced into a false confession.
Judge Derek Pullan said newly analyzed DNA evidence further weakened the state’s case, even as he concluded a reasonable jury could still find Carter guilty. The order came despite objections from Olesen’s family and after prosecutors said the latest testing excluded Carter as a possible match to material found on evidence from the scene.
DNA testing became a turning point after years of appeals
The latest testing focused on blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of the knife used to stab Olesen, who was also shot. Prosecutors said results received Sept. 22 did not match Carter.
Defense attorney Neal Hamilton said the same DNA evidence had also been run through the FBI database twice, including against Carter’s profile, with no matches returned. He said the testing added to doubts that have followed the case for years and that it remained unclear whether any other person could be connected to the crime through the DNA.
Pullan had previously set a two-month retrial for 2027, but Utah County prosecutors last week withdrew their notice that they would seek the death penalty. Prosecutor Erwin Petilos told the court Monday that revisiting Carter’s bail was “necessary and fair” as the state continues reviewing the evidence.
A confession, recanted witnesses and a controversial original trial
Carter was sentenced to death in 1985 after a jury found him guilty of murdering Olesen, an aunt of the Provo police chief at the time. Court records say there was no physical evidence tying him to the scene, but jurors heard a confession and testimony from two witnesses who said he bragged about the killing.
Those witnesses later recanted. Carter has said the confession was coerced after police threatened him during interrogation in Nashville, Tennessee, where he was arrested in June 1985 after leaving Utah. His defense has also said he was held for two days alongside a friend and confessed only to protect that friend.
Carter, who was born in Chicago and had been living with his mother in Utah, has repeatedly maintained his innocence. He was convicted after a trial in which the defense called no witnesses and was sentenced to death again after a 1992 retrial.
Utah Supreme Court found misconduct and ordered a new trial
The case shifted sharply last year when the Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial, citing misconduct by investigators. The court later described “multiple instances of intentional misconduct” by police and a prosecutor.
That ruling followed years of post-conviction litigation and renewed scrutiny of the original investigation. Carter’s lawyers argued that witnesses saw a White man fleeing the scene and that detectives failed to pursue other leads, including possible suspicion around Olesen’s husband, Orla Olesen.
Defense attorneys have said prosecutors were close to filing charges against Orla Olesen before a Provo police lieutenant asked them to hold off so the investigation could continue. 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.
Witnesses said police pressured them to implicate Carter
A major development came in 2011, when the two witnesses from Carter’s original trial were located in Mexico. They told investigators they had been instructed to lie in court and had been given cash and gifts by police, who told them not to reveal the payments.
They also said police and prosecutors threatened them and their son with deportation if they did not accuse Carter. Those claims helped fuel the long legal fight that eventually led the state Supreme Court to reopen the case.
Hamilton said the witness recantations and the DNA testing together show how fragile the original conviction was. He said Carter’s years in prison have taken a heavy toll and that the release will require more than simply leaving jail.
Judge sets GPS monitoring and contact limits during release
Under Pullan’s order, Carter must wear a GPS monitor and avoid contact with Olesen’s family. Hamilton said Carter will live in extended-stay housing near the family of his son, who was adopted by another family as an infant and learned about the conviction only years later.
Hamilton also said Carter will need therapy to deal with what he described as more than four decades of state-caused trauma. “It’s not just as simple as, ‘Let’s let him go,’” Hamilton said during the bond discussion.
Family members of Eva Olesen remain opposed to his release. Theresa Olesen, a daughter-in-law of the victim, told the court the family had “serious concerns” and wanted Carter kept in Utah County jail while the case moves forward. She said the DNA result did not settle whether he was involved and that the family still wants accountability for Eva Olesen’s death.
