Confession suppression, bond to be discussed at next hearing for former death row inmate Douglas Carter
Aug 3, 2026, 6:37 PM
Utah death row inmate Douglas Carter in a 2022 booking photo. A new court date has been scheduled for Carter, during which the defense will argue why Carter deserves to get out on bond, and why his confession should be tossed out. (Photo: Utah State Prison)
(Photo: Utah State Prison)
SALT LAKE CITY — A new court date has been scheduled for former death row inmate Douglas Carter, during which the defense will argue why Carter deserves to get out on bond, and why his confession should be tossed out.
Carter was convicted for the murder of Eva Olesen in 1985, but last year, his conviction was overturned because of police and prosecutorial misconduct. Now the Utah County Attorney’s Office is looking to try the case again.
But first, the court must address the defense’s motion to suppress Carter’s confession. Carter’s attorney, Neal Hamilton, told KSL recently that Carter only confessed because he was coerced.
There is also a request to take a new sample of Carter’s DNA after evidence, which was believed to have been lost, was rediscovered. Hamilton said Carter’s defense team was told for years that the evidence, which includes DNA from a bloody handprint on Olesen’s back door, was lost or destroyed. However, recently they were told the state crime lab was in possession of 17 items for testing. Only three of those items had enough DNA to compare to the federal database. The DNA from those three items did not have a match in CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System.
“We know that Doug is in CODIS. We know that these three pieces of evidence contain the murderer’s DNA. Nobody disputes that,” Hamilton explained. “And we know that it’s been compared twice to CODIS and no match has been returned.”
The state is requesting a new voluntary DNA sample from Carter to make a direct comparison, but Carter has pushed back. Hamilton explained that Carter was deeply traumatized years ago when he was pinned down to have his blood drawn for a previous DNA sample. Hamilton said Carter is hesitant to agree now, even though the methods to acquire DNA have changed.
These issues will be discussed at the next hearing on Aug. 26. The judge will also set a new trial date, and decide whether Carter can be let out of jail on bond. Both the prosecution and the defense plan to call several witnesses for this hearing.
The judge said during Monday’s scheduling conference that they would be looking at a trial date in 2027. The prosecution team said they expect Carter’s new trial to take about a month.
Other Utah news: Widemouth 2 Fire spikes to 68,000 acres; additional wildfire smoke arrives in Utah
