A man who spent many years on death row in Utah has requested a judge to dismiss his aggravated murder case following a state Supreme Court decision ordering a new trial due to misconduct by investigators.
Douglas Stewart Carter, aged 70, received a death sentence in 1985 for the murder of Eva Olesen, who was the aunt of a former Provo police chief. Despite the absence of physical evidence linking him to the crime scene, Carter, an African American, was convicted based on a signed confession and testimonies from two individuals who claimed he had boasted about killing Olesen, a Caucasian woman.
Carter contended that his confession was coerced. The witnesses, a couple residing in the U.S. unlawfully, disclosed later that law enforcement and prosecutors had offered to cover their rent, instructed them to provide false testimony in court, and threatened them and their son with deportation unless they incriminated Carter.
In 2022, Judge Derek Pullan overturned the conviction, which was subsequently upheld by the Utah Supreme Court in May of the same year citing “multiple constitutional violations” necessitating a retrial. Carter has remained incarcerated awaiting the new trial, with a bond hearing set for June.
His defense team stated in a motion filed on Friday, “Douglas Carter endured more than 40 years on death row for a crime he maintains he did not commit. Legally, it is time to put an end to this injustice.” Prosecutors, however, have argued against dismissing Carter’s case.
The new motion from the defense alleges that an investigator suppressed evidence pointing to other potential suspects, including the victim’s husband, Orla Olesen. It claims that prosecutors were on the verge of charging the husband, but a Provo police lieutenant intervened to prolong the investigation. Shortly after, Carter became a suspect, as per the document.
Requests for comments from the Provo Police Department and the Utah County Attorney’s Office went unanswered as of Friday. Prosecutors have yet to respond to the motion.
Orla Olesen, who passed away in 2009, had informed the police that he discovered his wife deceased in their residence, partially unclothed, with her hands bound behind her back. According to court records, she had sustained ten stab wounds and was shot in the back of the head.
In recent court filings, prosecutors expressed uncertainty about the existence of the tape recording of Orla Olesen’s polygraph test and the clothes seized from him during the investigation. They lacked information regarding any other potential evidence collected.
