Douglas Carter released on bail in Utah after new DNA analysis
The 71-year-old, who spent more than four decades in custody, remains charged in Eva Olesen’s 1985 killing as prosecutors review the evidence ahead of a new trial.
Douglas Carter, 71, was released on bail from Utah County Jail late Monday, September 28, after newly analyzed DNA evidence weakened the case against him in the 1985 killing of Eva Olesen in Provo, Utah. He remains charged with aggravated murder and faces a new trial. His release ends his time in custody while the case proceeds; it does not resolve who killed Olesen.
Judge Derek Pullan ordered Carter’s release after receiving results that excluded him as a possible match to DNA from specified evidence at the crime scene, according to reporting by the Associated Press, Utah News Dispatch and the Guardian. Carter must wear a GPS monitor. The recorded reporting also says his release conditions bar contact with Olesen’s family.
What the DNA results show in Douglas Carter’s case
The analysis, received on September 22, excluded Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of a knife used to stab Olesen, according to the Guardian and Associated Press. The reporting does not establish who left that material or identify another person responsible for the killing. Olesen was also shot.
Pullan said the results further undermined the case against Carter, while a reasonable jury could still conclude that he killed Olesen, the Guardian and Associated Press reported. The distinction matters because a result concerning particular DNA samples does not by itself decide the charge. Carter’s aggravated-murder case remains before the court.
Utah County prosecutor Erwin Petilos told the judge that reconsidering bail was ‘necessary and fair’ as the state reviewed the remaining evidence, according to the Guardian and Associated Press. Prosecutors withdrew their notice of intent to seek the death penalty before Carter’s release. KSL reported that the county attorney’s office did not consider Carter exonerated and pointed to other evidence, including his signed confession.
How the 1985 conviction was overturned
Carter was convicted of Olesen’s murder in 1985 and sentenced to death. His death sentence was vacated on appeal, and he was resentenced in 1992. His conviction remained in place until post-conviction proceedings led to a new trial order. The Utah Supreme Court affirmed that relief in 2025, finding constitutional violations involving evidence favorable to Carter that had been suppressed and false testimony that had not been corrected.
The Utah Supreme Court opinion describes a prosecution case that included Carter’s signed confession and testimony from Epifanio and Lucia Tovar. It recounts later declarations from the Tovars concerning police pressure and financial assistance, as well as lower-court findings of serious misconduct in the handling of their testimony. Those findings explain why Carter is awaiting a new trial despite his decades-old conviction.
Carter has maintained his innocence. His attorney, Neal Hamilton, says the confession was coerced and has urged prosecutors to dismiss the charge, according to the Guardian and Associated Press. That is the defense’s position; the pending case has not ended with a dismissal. Hamilton said he was grateful Carter could go home but grieved the years he spent in custody.
Eva Olesen’s family and the next trial
Olesen’s family opposed Carter’s release. Theresa Olesen said at the bond hearing that the family had ‘serious concerns’, the Guardian reported. She said the DNA result did not mean Carter had not been at the scene and that the family wanted to know whether he had any part in Eva’s death. In an earlier statement reported by KSL, the family said its focus remained on Eva and on establishing what happened to her.
A two-month retrial had been scheduled for 2027, according to the Guardian. Prosecutors are reviewing what evidence remains and whether to continue pursuing the aggravated-murder charge. Carter’s lawyer wants the charge dismissed. For now, Carter is out on bail under monitoring, while Olesen’s family and Carter await a decision on how the case will proceed.
Sources and context
- Utah death-row prisoner released after new DNA analysis of 1985 killingThe Guardian
- A man who spent decades on Utah’s death row is released and awaits a new trial in a 1985 killingAssociated Press
- Doug Carter, twice sentenced to die, steps out from behind bars in Utah thanks to DNA analysisUtah News Dispatch
- Miracle and uncertainty: Families respond to removal of death penalty in 1985 caseKSL.com
- Carter v. State, 2025 UT 13Utah Supreme Court (opinion reproduced by Justia)
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.
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