A 71-year-old American man who spent 41 years on death row has been released on bail after newly analysed DNA evidence failed to link him to the murder for which he was convicted.
Douglas Stewart Carter was sentenced to death for the 1985 killing of Eva Olesen in Provo, Utah, but has maintained his innocence for decades, saying the confession used against him was coerced.
A judge ordered his release on Monday while he awaits a new trial. He must wear a GPS monitor while on bail.
Olesen was stabbed multiple times and shot in the back of the head at her home in February 1985.
Carter, originally from Chicago, was suspected of killing her during a robbery. He later signed a confession while being questioned by police, but subsequently said he had been forced into admitting to a crime he did not commit.
There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene at the time of his conviction. Prosecutors relied heavily on his confession and testimony from two witnesses who said Carter had boasted about the killing.
Those witnesses later recanted, saying in 2011 that police had instructed them to lie, provided them with cash and gifts and threatened them with deportation if they refused to testify against Carter.
Utah’s Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year after finding serious misconduct by investigators.
The case shifted further this month when prosecutors disclosed that new DNA testing excluded Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of the knife used in the killing.
His lawyers have also argued that witnesses reported seeing a white man fleeing the scene and that investigators suppressed evidence pointing towards Olesen’s husband, who died in 2009.
Despite the new DNA findings, Olesen’s family opposed Carter’s release and said he should remain in custody until the new trial.
Carter’s lawyer, Neal Hamilton, is now calling for the case to be dismissed entirely.
He said Carter could have been executed years ago before the alleged investigative misconduct and new evidence came to light.