Photo credit: Associated Press, George Frey
By Face2Face Africa
71-year-old man, Douglas Stewart Carter, was released on bail Monday after new DNA evidence cleared him of the 1985 murder of Eva Olesen, the aunt of a police chief. Despite objections from the victim’s family, a Utah judge granted his release, requiring him to wear a GPS monitor while awaiting a new trial.
The state Supreme Court had previously ordered this new trial due to investigator misconduct. Carter has always claimed he is innocent and that his confession was forced.
Carter was convicted despite no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene. The jury relied on his confession and witness testimonies, which were later dismissed, the Associated Press reported.
A DNA analysis on Sept. 22 excluded him as a match to blood on a doorknob and genetic material from a knife used to stab Olesen, who was also shot.
Judge Derek Pullan noted that these findings weakened the case against Carter, though a jury might still believe he killed Olesen.
Carter was released from jail on September 20, dressed in a white shirt and grey sweatpants, with his glasses around his neck. His son carried a cart with his belongings.
Carter smiled briefly while covering his face with papers, avoiding reporters as he left with his son and attorney. He is forbidden from contacting Olesen’s family.
“This is going to be a lot for him,” Carter’s son, Tyler Anger, told AP.
Carter will stay at a hotel near Anger, who learned of the conviction years later, said his attorney Neal Hamilton. He will also need therapy for his long incarceration, Hamilton added.
“If the state of Utah had their way, he would have been executed 15, 20 years ago before we discovered the misconduct,” Hamilton said. He urged prosecutors to seek dismissal of an aggravated murder charge still pending against Carter.
A two-month retrial was planned next year, but last week county prosecutors withdrew a notice that they intended to seek the death penalty.
Utah County prosecutor Erwin Petilos stated that reviewing Carter’s bail was “necessary and fair” as the state examines remaining evidence.
Carter, originally from Chicago, was living in Utah with his mother when Olesen was murdered on Feb. 27, 1985. The investigation later centered on Carter, who was suspected of her killing during a robbery.
In April 1985, Carter fled Utah, believing he was a suspect in an unrelated assault case. He was arrested in June 1985 in Nashville, Tennessee, where he confessed during interrogation.
A decade of legal battles ensued before the Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year, citing “intentional misconduct” by police and a prosecutor. Following this, a DNA analysis was conducted, with results reported last week. Prosecutors did not disclose whether they are using the DNA to identify other suspects.
Carter’s defense claimed witnesses saw a white man fleeing the scene and that evidence pointing to other suspects, including the victim’s husband, Orla Olesen, was suppressed.
They alleged prosecutors were close to charging the husband, but a Provo police lieutenant requested they hold off to continue the investigation. Carter was soon identified as a suspect.
Orla Olesen, who died in 2009, told police he found his wife dead at home, partially undressed and with her hands tied behind her back.
Theresa Olesen, Eva Olesen’s daughter-in-law, expressed her family’s “serious concerns” about Carter’s release during the bond hearing on September 28.
“By golly we were hoping for a concrete match,” Olesen said of the DNA analysis. “It doesn’t mean he wasn’t there.”
“We just want justice for Eva. And if he had any part of it, we want that to be known,” she continued.