Utah prosecutors drop death penalty after new DNA evidence shows man is not match in 1985 killing

Nypost · Sep 24, 2026 · 559 words · By Associated Press

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What to know about Utah prosecutors drop death penalty after new DNA evidence shows man is not match in 1985 killing

Utah prosecutors drop death penalty after new DNA evidence shows man is not match in 1985 killing See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 14

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center86%

Right14%

7 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Utah prosecutors drop death penalty after new DNA evidence shows man is not match in 1985 killing See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Utah prosecutors are dropping their plan to seek the death penalty in an upcoming retrial of a 71-year-old man who spent decades on death row for a 1985 killing in which newly analyzed DNA evidence did not match him.

Common ground

Douglas Stewart Carter was sentenced to death in 1985 after a jury found him guilty of murdering Eva Olesen, the aunt of a former Provo police chief.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Utah prosecutors drop death penalty after new DNA evidence shows man is not match in 1985 killing?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that an eight-week trial set to begin next July?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/09/24/us-news/utah-prosecutors-drop-death-penalty-after-…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 8

schedule Pending 4

info Single Source 1

help Insufficient Evidence 1

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Claim 1: “an eight-week trial set to begin next July”

SINGLE SOURCE

While multiple sources confirm a retrial is scheduled for 2027, the specific detail of an 'eight-week trial' is not explicitly corroborated across multiple independent sources in the provided evidence, though the general timeline is confirmed.

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web search NEUTRAL — Sep 18, 2026 · ABC4.com has compiled a complete timeline of what has happened in the trial, conviction, and now the upcoming retrial of Douglas Stewart Carter for the murder of Eva Olesen.
https://www.abc4.com/news/crime/death-row-retrial-douglas-ca…

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web search NEUTRAL — Sep 25, 2026 · In 2027, Carter is scheduled to have a retrial in the murder case. Utah prosecutors will not seek the death penalty in a retrial of a 71-year-old man who spent decades on death row for …
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/utah-murder-retrial-dna-findings

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web search NEUTRAL — Sep 28, 2026 · After spending 40 years on death row for the murder of Provo resident Eva Olesen in 1985, Douglas Carter has been released on bond as he awaits a new trial.
https://www.abc4.com/news/douglas-carter-released-bond/

schedule

Claim 2: “an investigator suppressed evidence pointing to other suspects, including the victim’s husband, Orla Olesen.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 3: “The two witnesses who said he had bragged to — a couple living in the U.S. without legal status — said years later that police and prosecutors offered to pay their rent, coached them to lie in court and threatened them and their son with deportation”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 4: “Olesen, who was also shot.”

CORROBORATED

Although the 'Evidence for claim 8' section says 'No evidence found', the evidence provided for Claim 7 explicitly states: 'excluded Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and material found on the handle of a knife used to stab Olesen, who was also shot.'

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Claim 5: “Orla Olesen, who died in 2009, had told police he found his wife dead in their home, partially undressed and with her hands tied behind her back.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 6: “Utah prosecutors are dropping their plan to seek the death penalty in an upcoming retrial of a 71-year-old man who spent decades on death row for a 1985 killing”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources (KUER, FOX 7 Austin, and a report on the Utah County Attorney's Office) confirm that prosecutors have withdrawn the request for the death penalty in Douglas Stewart Carter's retrial due to DNA evidence.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart appeared in 80 films from 1935 to…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924 – December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democra…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ralph Leroy Menzies (April 21, 1958 – November 26, 2025) was an American convicted murderer who was on death row in Utah for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker (February 28, 1959 – February 25, 1986)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Menzies

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 7: “results of a DNA analysis received Tuesday excluded Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and material found on the handle of a knife used to stab Olesen”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that DNA analysis excluded Carter as a match to blood on a doorknob and material on the knife handle.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — He said results of a DNA analysis received Tuesday excluded Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and material found on the handle of a knife used to stab Olesen, who was also shot.
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/do…

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web search NEUTRAL — Douglas Stewart Carter was sentenced to death in 1985 for the murder of Eva Olesen. New testing excluded Carter from DNA recovered from blood on a doorknob and genetic material found on the handle of …
https://www.tiktok.com/discover/what-happened-to-douglas-ste…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Carter's release comes after a DNA analysis earlier this month ruled out the 71-year-old as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of the knife us…
https://news.sky.com/story/man-who-has-spent-decades-on-utah…

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Claim 8: “No physical evidence linked him to the crime scene”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that no physical evidence linked Carter to the crime scene at the time of the original conviction.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Utah. Utah was the first state to resume executions after the 1972–1976 national moratorium on capital punishment ended with Gregg v. Georgia…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Utah

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha I…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Douglas

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 9: “the jury convicted Carter, a Black man, based on a signed confession and two witnesses who said he had bragged about killing Olesen, who was white.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (Israel National News, Times of India, The Mary Sue) confirm the conviction was based on a signed confession and testimony from two witnesses who claimed he bragged about the murder, and that Carter is Black.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of characters who appeared in the Scottish soap opera Take the High Road, broadcast from 1980 to 2003.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Take_the_High_Road_cha…

+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 10: “the handgun used to shoot Olesen was never found”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided in the search results regarding whether the handgun used to shoot Olesen was recovered or not.

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Claim 11: “The state Supreme Court last year ordered a new trial, citing misconduct by investigators.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (WTOP News, KUER, and other reports) explicitly state that the Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial citing investigator misconduct.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ashdown v. Utah, 357 U.S. 426 (1958), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the officers involved in the case did not take advantage of petitioner or overtake her will wh…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashdown_v._Utah

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An inmate is considered to have exhausted their appeals if their sentence has fully withstood the appellate process; this involves either the inmate's conviction and death sentence withstanding each s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_death_row_inmates_in_t…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United State…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_justices_of_the_Suprem…

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 12: “witnesses saw a white man fleeing the crime scene”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 13: “Judge Derek Pullan set a bond hearing for Monday”

CORROBORATED

Reports from The Salt Lake Tribune and other sources confirm Judge Derek Pullan held a bond hearing for Carter on Monday, Sept 28, 2026.

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web search NEUTRAL — Judge Derek Pullan said those results further undermined the case against Carter, but a reasonable jury still could conclude that he killed Olesen. Pullan ordered Carter to wear a GPS monitor as a con…
https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/man-utahs-death-row-decades…

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web search NEUTRAL — Judge Derek Pullan reversed the conviction in 2022, and the Utah Supreme Court affirmed that ruling last May, saying “numerous constitutional violations” merited a retrial. Carter has remained in pris…
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/former-death-row-inm…

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web search NEUTRAL — Judge Derek Pullan said he will release a written ruling by the end of day.(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Former death row inmate Douglas Carter appears in 4th District Court in Provo for a bond …
https://kutv.com/news/local/former-utah-death-row-inmate-app…

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Claim 14: “Douglas Stewart Carter was sentenced to death in 1985 after a jury found him guilty of murdering Eva Olesen”

CORROBORATED

Confirmed by multiple sources including FOX 7 Austin and other news reports that Carter was convicted and sentenced to death in 1985 for the murder of Eva Olesen.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Joanne King Herring (born July 3, 1929) is an American socialite, businesswoman, political activist, philanthropist, diplomat, and former television talk show host. Originally from Houston, Texas, she…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanne_Herring

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Simone Arianne Biles Owens (née Biles; born March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. Her 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals make her the most decorated gymnast in history. She …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Biles

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — We Need to Talk About Kevin is a 2011 psychological thriller drama film directed by Lynne Ramsay, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rory Stewart Kinnear, based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Lio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Need_to_Talk_About_Kevin_(f…

+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.