PROVO — After receiving a DNA report, prosecutors said they no longer intend to seek the death penalty for a man who had his conviction overturned after decades on death row.
A legal filing on Wednesday from Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray said the DNA evidence doesn’t exonerate Douglas Carter, but the DNA from blood on a doorknob and the handle of a knife used in the crime excluded Carter.
“The county attorney has concluded that this new DNA evidence is sufficient reason to withdraw the state’s notice of intent to seek the death penalty, re-examine the decision to move forward with the prosecution, and readdress Carter’s custody status,” the motion says.
Carter, 70, is charged with aggravated murder, a capital offense, and accused of killing Eva Olesen in her Provo home in 1985.
Neal Hamilton, Carter’s attorney, said they did not get any advance notice about the DNA report prosecutors received on Tuesday. He said it is frustrating they weren’t given a heads-up, and he had not yet had a chance to talk to his client about it and let him know because the news came while he was on lockdown at the jail for dinner.
“Doug has always maintained — for 41 years, Doug has consistently maintained, ‘I didn’t do this.’ Not only has the state of Utah stolen 41 years, but they haven’t solved the murder. Her killer is still out there, and as far as we can tell, they’re making zero attempts to find out who that killer is, even though they have that blood,” he said.
A reversed conviction
On May 15, 2025, Utah Supreme Court judges affirmed a district court decision from 4th District Judge Derek Pullan granting Carter a new trial, citing “intentional misconduct” from police officers and a prosecutor.
Hamilton said prosecutors knew of the misconduct that eventually led to the conviction being overturned for 30 years before Carter’s attorneys found out, and “they never did the right thing.” Instead, he says, they were determined to convict Carter.
Carter’s eight-week jury trial was scheduled on Tuesday to begin on July 26, 2027, and run through Sept. 20. Pullan is retiring before the end of this year, so although he scheduled the jury trial, it would be held with a different judge.
Pullan recently ordered that Carter should provide a DNA sample to prosecutors so they could test his DNA directly against multiple unknown DNA profiles from the scene, which led to the report. In that hearing, Hamilton said he was not opposed to providing a DNA sample, but wanted more information about the process first. In hindsight, Hamilton said they should have allowed prosecutors to test Carter’s DNA earlier, but they were still struggling to get evidence files from prosecutors. He said the result doesn’t surprise them; Carter’s DNA has been in a system that the DNA found at the scene was already checked with.
“It’s a confirmation of what Doug has already said and what we already knew,” Hamilton said.
Considering Bail
Shortly before scheduling the trial was set, Pullan issued an order denying Carter’s request to be allowed out on bail while awaiting his next trial. Now, with the additional evidence, prosecutors said the issue of bail should be readdressed.
Gray asked for a bail hearing “at the earliest date available” to reconsider his release while the case is ongoing.
Hamilton said they are hoping to schedule a bail hearing Thursday morning. He also said Pullan was waiting for the results of the DNA test to determine whether or not a confession Carter claims was coerced can be used in the trial. The attorney said they hope that, with the DNA evidence, the judge will rule that it cannot be used.
Pullan recently ruled with prosecutors against allowing bail. He determined that prosecutors presented substantial evidence to support the crime, including a confession from Carter to an officer, and that there were not release conditions that could mitigate the risk that Carter would flee.
The judge said there is evidence that could undermine the credibility of key witnesses and Carter’s confession, citing the misconduct, but said a jury should assess that.
The order noted that in 1985 Carter fled to Tennessee to avoid an arrest for an unrelated assault.
Multiple members of Eva Olesen’s family asked for Carter to be kept in custody at an August hearing. In Gray’s motion on Wednesday, he said Olesen’s family had been notified of their request to address bail again and the new DNA evidence.
Should the case be dismissed?
Gray said Carter is not exonerated at this point, citing his confession and that Olesen was shot with a .357 or .38 caliber gun that was never found, and witnesses testified that Carter’s wife owned a .38 caliber gun that was also not found.
“The office is also in the process of reassessing the evidence in this case in light of the DNA results to determine how best to proceed,” a statement from Gray’s office said.
Hamilton said he already spent much of Wednesday working on yet another motion to dismiss the case, and said that is what they will continue to request.
“This is a good first step, but they need to finish the job. Dismissal is how this needs to end,” Hamilton said. “They stole a man’s life, and there needs to be some accountability for that.”
The attorney argued that prosecutors should be “as horrified by this conduct as the rest of us,” and they should focus on figuring out who killed Eva Olesen.
“That family needs answers, and Doug needs to go home,” Hamilton said.