By Paul Joseph
A 71-year-old man who spent 41 years on death row in the United States has been released on bail after newly analysed DNA evidence failed to link him to the 1985 murder for which he was convicted.
Douglas Stewart Carter was sentenced to death for the killing of Eva Olesen in Provo, Utah, in February 1985. He has consistently maintained his innocence, arguing that the confession used against him was obtained through coercion.
A Utah judge granted Carter bail on Monday despite objections from Olesen’s family. He will remain under electronic monitoring while awaiting a new trial.
Olesen, the aunt of a local police chief, was stabbed several times and shot in the back of the head at her home. Police suspected Carter of killing her during a robbery.
Carter, who was living with his mother in Utah at the time, fled the state after believing he was wanted in an unrelated case. He was later arrested in Nashville, Tennessee, where he signed a confession during police questioning.
Although there was no physical evidence initially linking him to the crime scene, a jury convicted him largely on the basis of the confession and testimony from two witnesses who claimed Carter had spoken about the killing.
However, the witnesses later changed their accounts. In 2011, they said they had been pressured by police to testify against Carter, allegedly receiving money and gifts and being threatened with deportation if they refused.
The Utah Supreme Court subsequently ordered a new trial, citing misconduct by investigators.
Carter’s lawyers also argued that witnesses had reported seeing a white man fleeing the scene and that investigators had withheld evidence that could have implicated Olesen’s husband, Orla Olesen, who died in 2009.
Orla Olesen had told police he discovered his wife dead inside their home.
Investigators determined that the stab wounds were inflicted with a kitchen knife found near the victim’s body, while the gun used in the shooting was never recovered.
Earlier this month, prosecutors said new DNA testing excluded Carter as a possible contributor to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the knife handle.
The development led to Carter’s release on bail, although Olesen’s family continues to oppose his freedom.
Theresa Olesen, the victim’s daughter-in-law, told the court that the family had serious concerns about Carter’s release and wanted him to remain in custody until the new trial.
She also said the DNA findings did not necessarily prove that Carter was not involved in the killing.
Carter’s defence lawyer, Neal Hamilton, however, urged prosecutors to drop the case, arguing that the evidence and alleged investigative misconduct undermined the conviction.
“If the state of Utah had their way, he would have been executed 15, 20 years ago before we discovered the misconduct,” Hamilton said, according to the Associated Press.
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