71-Year-Old Man on Death Row Released After 41 Years
New DNA evidence excluded Carter, and the Utah Supreme Court found investigators committed misconduct after he spent 41 years on death row.
- On Tuesday, 71-year-old Douglas Stewart Carter was released from Utah's death row after 41 years following DNA analysis that excluded him from the 1985 murder of Eva Olesen.
- Carter was convicted in 1985 for Olesen's murder based on a confession he claims was coerced and testimony from two witnesses, though no physical evidence linked him to the crime.
- DNA analysis last week excluded Carter from samples on a doorknob and knife at the scene; two witnesses recanted their 2011 testimony, alleging Provo police provided cash and gifts to induce false statements.
- Carter now awaits a new trial while wearing a GPS monitor and living in an extended-stay hotel. Olesen's family opposes his release, with relative Theresa Olesen saying, "We still do not believe he is completely innocent."
- Defense attorney Neal Hamilton is requesting prosecutors drop the case and petitioning for factual innocence to secure state compensation. Hamilton also seeks an independent investigation into the original police work and prosecution.
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The now-released man was sentenced to death for the murder, for which he has now been acquitted.
Stewart Carter, Who Had Been Imprisoned in the US for 41 Years, Was Released Thanks to DNA Evidence.
Stewart Carter, 71, who had been imprisoned for 41 years in the US for a murder he denied committing, was released from prison and spared the death penalty after newly emerged DNA evidence showed a mismatch. A retrial was ordered after prosecutors announced that the DNA results did not link Carter to the crime.
Without any evidence, 71-year-old Douglas Stewart Carter was thrown into jail since 1985 for the murder of Eva Olesen, white aunt of a police chief. Later it was proved that Utah's segregationist guard bribed with money and threatened with deportation two immigrants and their children to accuse him of the crime [...] The post Only after 41 years in the death row, Black American is innocent by DNA analysis appeared first in People's Time.
Douglas Stewart Carter, 71, was released from prison in Utah and will remain under electronic surveillance while awaiting a new trial.
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