Chicago native Douglas Stewart Carter is returning to Utah's death row.
For the second time since he killed Eva Olesen, 57, on Feb. 27, 1985, during a burglary of her home, a 4th District Court jury that gave Carter the death sentence. The 12-member jury reached the unanimous decision Thursday evening after about six hours of deliberations.Carter, 36, spent almost four years on death row after being convicted on Dec. 18, 1975, of Olesen's murder. He was removed from death row in 1989 after the Utah Supreme Court ruled the jury that sentenced him was not properly instructed according to Utah law. The court ordered a new jury be impaneled and Carter resentenced.
Olesen's husband found her body in their southeast Provo home, stabbed 10 times and shot once in the back of the head. Carter confessed to the killing shortly after being arrested in June 1985 in Nashville, Tenn.
When the verdict was read and jurors were polled, many of them wept. Carter remained calm, but his mother and sister began crying.
Orla Olesen, the victim's husband, embraced Carter's family and told them he is sorry for all that had happened. Olesen later said the sentence surprised him because of the time that had passed since the original trial.
"I'm pleased, and I think it was a fair verdict," Olesen said. "I just hope that someday it will be carried out. I don't want to go through this for another 15 years."
One juror said it was the toughest decision he has ever had to make. But he said all jurors agreed the prosecution had proved the death penalty was appropriate.
"We just felt that they had met all the legal requirements," the weeping juror said.
The death sentence came despite a last-minute plea by Carter for his life.
"I am asking you to please spare my life," Carter said to jurors Thursday before closing arguments. He also told his family and the Olesen family he is sorry.
"I cannot imagine what these people have gone through over the past seven years," he said.
In his closing arguments, Deputy Utah County Attorney Jim Taylor said Olesen's murder was committed in a torturous and heinous way. He said that after the murder Carter showed no remorse for the crime.
"He wasn't sickened, saddened, and he wasn't frightened. He was thrilled," Taylor said.
Craig Snyder, Carter's attorney, said the evidence proved Carter did not torture Olesen. He said the mitigating circumstances of the case clearly outweighed the aggravating circumstances.
"There is not a person in this room that would not bring back Eva Olesen if they could, but Douglas Carter's death will not bring her back," Snyder said.
Carter's execution date will be set Monday at 11 a.m. by Judge Cullen Y. Christensen. Because his first sentence was overturned, Carter's appeal process starts over with Thursday's sentence. Carter's death sentence is automatically appealed to the Utah Supreme Court, and his attorneys said they likely will again appeal the conviction.