A man who spent 41 years on death row in the United States after being convicted of murdering a woman has been released on bail. Prosecutors stated that recently analyzed DNA evidence does not link him to the crime, as reported by BBC.
Douglas Stewart Carter, now 71, was incarcerated for the murder of Eva Olesen in Utah in 1985.
Carter Maintained His Innocence
Although sentenced to death, he has consistently asserted his innocence, claiming that his signed confession was obtained under duress.
Last year, the state’s Supreme Court ordered a new trial due to missteps by investigators. On Monday, a judge granted Carter bail despite objections from the victim’s family. During his release on bail, he is required to wear a GPS monitoring device.
Olesen, the aunt of a local police chief, was stabbed multiple times and then shot in the neck at her home in Provo, Utah, in February 1985.
Carter, originally from Chicago, was living with his mother in Utah at the time of the crime. Court documents indicate that police suspected him of killing Olesen during a robbery.
Believing he was a suspect in an unrelated case, Carter fled Utah but was eventually found in Nashville, Tennessee. He later signed a confession during interrogation, which he claimed was coerced.
Witnesses Reported Being Pressured to Lie
Despite the absence of physical evidence linking Carter to the crime scene, he was convicted by a jury based on his confession and statements from two witnesses who claimed he had bragged about the crime.
However, the witnesses later testified in 2011 that they had been pressured to lie in court, received money and gifts from the police, and were threatened with deportation if they did not testify against Carter.
