PROVO, Utah — The Utah County Attorney's Office has announced it will no longer seek the death penalty for Douglas Carter in his upcoming trial, a significant development in the long-running case involving the 1985 home invasion murder of Eva Olesen. This decision comes after Carter had spent years on death row following his initial conviction.
In a recent statement, the Utah County Attorney's Office indicated it is now reassessing its approach to court proceedings for Carter. This reassessment follows a comparison of Carter's DNA with a profile found at the original crime scene, conducted by the Utah State Crime Lab.
Carter was originally convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Eva Olesen. However, that conviction was later thrown out by a judge who determined Carter's constitutional rights had been violated during the initial investigation and trial. This decision was subsequently upheld by the Utah Supreme Court.
During the original legal proceedings, allegations surfaced that Provo police officers involved in the case had threatened and bribed key witnesses. Throughout the appeals process, Carter has consistently maintained that his own confession was coerced by investigators, contributing to the grounds for his initial conviction being overturned.
Ahead of his new trial, Carter's attorneys asserted in July that their client's DNA profile was absent from the original crime scene. Following this claim, Carter initially refused to provide a DNA sample when requested by the state. Subsequent testing of items recovered from the crime scene revealed the presence of an unknown male DNA profile. This finding led the court last month to issue a demand that Carter provide a DNA sample for comparison.
While the Utah County Attorney's Office confirmed that the Utah State Crime Lab compared Carter's DNA with the profile found at the scene, the office did not publicly release the results of these tests. Furthermore, no specific reason was provided for the withdrawal of the intent to seek the death penalty. The office did state, however, that it is "in the process of reassessing the evidence in this case in light of the DNA results to determine how best to proceed."
In related developments, the Attorney General's Office has requested a bail hearing. This hearing is intended to allow the trial court to reassess Carter's custody status as the case advances. Meanwhile, Douglas Carter has made demands to formally enter a plea in the ongoing murder case.