41 Years Facing Execution: New DNA Evidence Excludes Douglas Carter, Freed After Decades on Death Row

Douglas Stewart Carter spent decades on Utah's death row for the 1985 killing of Eva Olesen. On Monday, the 71-year-old walked out of jail on bail after prosecutors said newly analyzed DNA evidence "doesn't link him to the crime." His case is a stark reminder of how easily capital punishment can fail.

The case against Carter was always thin. "No physical evidence linked him to the crime scene." Instead, a jury convicted Carter, a Black man, of killing a white woman. The conviction rested on a confession he says was coerced and on two witnesses who later recanted. Carter says he falsely confessed "after police repeatedly threatened him." At his first trial, the defense called no witnesses.

The problems ran deeper. In 2011, the two key witnesses were found in Mexico. They said they had been "told to lie in court" and had received "cash and gifts from police." They also said authorities threatened them and their son with deportation unless they implicated Carter. Last year, the Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial, citing "multiple instances of intentional misconduct" by police and a prosecutor.

Meanwhile, other leads went unpursued. Defense attorneys say witnesses saw a white man fleeing the scene. They also say an investigator suppressed evidence pointing to other suspects, including the victim's husband. Now DNA from a bloody doorknob and from the handle of the knife used in the killing has excluded Carter.

His attorney, Neal Hamilton, put the stakes bluntly: "If the state of Utah had their way, he would have been executed 15, 20 years ago before we discovered the misconduct."

This is the central problem with the death penalty. It is irreversible, and the evidence that exposes a wrongful conviction may take decades to surface. Courts rejected Carter's appeals for years. Had he been executed, the truth might never have come out.

Not everyone sees his release as justice. Judge Derek Pullan noted that a reasonable jury could still find Carter guilty. The victim's family voiced "serious concerns" about his release, and Theresa Olesen said, "It doesn't mean he wasn't there." Still, a system that nearly executed a man on such a shaky foundation cannot claim the certainty a death sentence demands.

Link: AP News