SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for condemned killer Douglas Stewart Carter.
In a unanimous ruling, the state's top court sided with a lower-court judge who ruled Carter's constitutional rights had been violated. It was the Utah Attorney General's Office who appealed to the Court. Carter was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1985 murder of Eva Olesen in Provo. Carter's lawyers had accused prosecutors in his original trial of misconduct by failing to disclose financial payments to witnesses or that police had threatened those witnesses.
"The State appeals the postconviction court’s order. It is important to note that, for the most part, the State does not challenge the court’s factual findings. Further, the State does not dispute that it wrongfully suppressed exculpatory evidence and that the prosecutor knowingly failed to correct at least one instance of false testimony. Rather, the State argues that the postconviction court used an incorrect legal standard in part of its prejudice analysis, and that overall, these constitutional violations did not prejudice Carter under the applicable [Post Conviction Relief Act] standards," Justice Paige Petersen wrote in the opinion.
"We agree with the State that part of the postconviction court’s prejudice analysis relied on an incorrect legal standard. However, applying the correct legal standard, there is no question that these numerous constitutional violations—suppressing evidence, suborning perjury, and knowingly failing to correct false testimony—prejudiced Carter at both his trial and sentencing."
Convicted killer Ralph Menzies appears in court for competency hearing on execution:
The ruling means Carter will get a new trial. He has argued that in addition to police and prosecutorial misconduct, his own confession was coerced.
Justice Petersen wrote that "the constitutional violations that took place during Carter’s trial and resentencing are serious."
"It is rare to see a case involving multiple instances of intentional misconduct by two different police officers—one of them the lead investigator on the case—and a prosecutor. But that is what the postconviction court found here," she wrote.
"Mr. Carter has spent more than forty years behind bars because of an unconstitutional conviction rooted in police and prosecutorial misconduct—including the suborning of perjury before a jury of his peers. We are gratified that both the trial court and the Utah Supreme Court have validated Mr. Carter’s claims," his attorney, Eric Zuckerman, said in an email to FOX 13 News. "But no ruling can restore the four decades of freedom the State of Utah unjustly took from him. This decision underscores what has long been clear: Utah’s death penalty system is broken beyond repair."
In a statement, the Utah Attorney General's Office expressed sympathy to Olesen's family.
"We extend our hearts and sympathies to the family of Eva Olesen, who have sought justice for her murder the last 40 years. We are disappointed the Olesen family does not yet have a resolution in this case," the office said.
Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray told FOX 13 News on Thursday the presumption is they will seek a new trial for Carter, but cautioned they need to review the Utah Supreme Court's opinion, review 40-year-old evidence and re-interview witnesses.
Carter is part of a larger lawsuit challenging Utah's death penalty laws. The Utah Supreme Court has signaled it will take up that case.
Read the Utah Supreme Court's ruling here:
