A Utah judge has ordered the release of 71-year-old Douglas Stewart Carter after he spent 41 years on death row awaiting execution. The reason? There is a possibility he may be innocent.
Carter was arrested in 1985 after the body of Eva Olsen, a relative of the police chief in Provo, Utah, was found inside her home bearing severe signs of violence.
A jury convicted him of murder, with prosecutors alleging that he decided to kill Olsen during a burglary at her home that had gone wrong.
Despite the lack of conclusive evidence linking him to the murder, the jury convicted Carter based on his confession and testimony from two witnesses who claimed that Carter had "boasted to them that he had committed the murder."
The judges sentenced him to death. Over the years, Carter continued to deny involvement in the murder, claiming that his confession had been coerced.
He continued filing appeals during the 41 years he spent awaiting execution. In 2011, some of the witnesses who testified against Carter revealed that they had been asked to lie in court. They also said they had received money and gifts from police and had been threatened with deportation if they did not testify against Carter.
Last year, the US Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Carter, citing misconduct by investigators.
After several months of proceedings, the judge decided to release the elderly prisoner on bail following his 41 years on death row.
His attorney, Neil Hamilton, said after the release: "He is being released carrying 41 years of trauma inflicted by the state, and the impact of that is very real."