After 41 years in Utah custody, Black man released following new DNA findings
TheGrio...
Douglas Carter’s conviction was overturned after courts found serious misconduct, and new DNA testing excluded him from genetic evidence recovered in the case.
Douglas Stewart Carter, 71, walked out of a Utah jail Monday after 41 years in state custody, following DNA testing that excluded him from genetic evidence recovered in the 1985 killing for which he was sentenced to death.
NewsOne reported that Carter was convicted of killing Eva Olesen, the aunt of Provo’s police chief at the time. His conviction rested heavily on a signed confession Carter says police coerced and testimony from Epifanio and Lucia Tovar. Decades later, the Tovars said police had threatened them, pressured them to make false statements and told them to conceal financial assistance they received from officers.
In 2025, the Utah Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that vacated Carter’s conviction and death sentence. The court found serious misconduct by police and the lead prosecutor, including suppressed evidence, false testimony and the failure to correct testimony the prosecution knew was untrue. A new trial was ordered.
The case shifted again this month when newly analyzed crime-scene DNA excluded Carter as a possible source of blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of a knife used in Olesen’s killing. Utah County prosecutors then withdrew their plan to seek the death penalty and said the new results warranted another look at Carter’s custody status and the prosecution itself.
Judge Derek Pullan granted bail Sept. 28. Carter must wear a GPS monitor and avoid contact with Olesen’s family while awaiting trial. His defense team says he will stay near his son’s family and receive therapy as he adjusts to life outside prison.
Prosecutors have stressed that the DNA results do not, by themselves, establish Carter’s innocence. Olesen was also shot, and the aggravated murder case remains pending. Her family has voiced concern about his release and said it still wants justice for Olesen.
For Carter’s lawyers, the Douglas Carter release marks the first time in four decades that he can prepare for the next stage of the case outside a jail or prison cell.