DNA clears US man after 41 years on death row

A 71-year-old US man who spent 41 years on death row for the murder of a woman has been released on bail after newly analysed DNA evidence excluded him as a possible match to biological evidence from the crime scene.

Douglas Stewart Carter was convicted of killing Eva Olesen in Provo, Utah, in February 1985 and sentenced to death despite maintaining his innocence. He had also argued that a confession he signed during police interrogation was coerced.

According to the BBC, Carter was granted bail on Monday while awaiting a new trial. He has been ordered to wear a GPS monitoring device.

The Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year after finding evidence of misconduct by investigators.

Olesen, the aunt of a local police chief, was stabbed several times and shot in the back of the head at her home.

Carter, who is from Chicago, was living with his mother in Utah when the killing occurred. Police suspected him of killing Olesen during a robbery.

He later left Utah after believing he was wanted in an unrelated case and was eventually arrested in Nashville, Tennessee, where he signed a confession during questioning.

However, investigators found no physical evidence directly linking him to the crime scene.

Carter was convicted largely on the basis of his confession and testimony from two witnesses who claimed he had boasted about the killing.

The witnesses later recanted their testimony in 2011, saying police had instructed them to lie in court, given them cash and gifts, and threatened them with deportation if they refused to testify against Carter.

His lawyers also argued that witnesses had reported seeing a white man fleeing the scene and accused investigators of suppressing evidence that pointed to Olesen’s husband, Orla Olesen, as a possible suspect.

Orla, who died in 2009, told police he had discovered his wife dead inside their home.

The knife believed to have been used in the killing was found near Olesen’s body, while the gun used to shoot her was never recovered.

Prosecutors said this month that DNA testing had excluded Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the knife handle.

Carter’s release was opposed by Olesen’s family, who argued that he should remain in custody until the new trial.

Theresa Olesen, Eva Olesen’s daughter-in-law, told Monday’s bail hearing that the family had “serious concerns” about his release.

“By golly we were hoping for a concrete match,” she said of the DNA results. “It doesn’t mean he wasn’t there.”

Carter’s lawyer, Neal Hamilton, has called for the case to be dismissed.

“If the state of Utah had their way, he would have been executed 15, 20 years ago before we discovered the misconduct,” Hamilton told the Associated Press.