Utah County Attorney's Office to Re-examine Douglas Carter Prosecution

May 15, 2025

Utah County Attorney’s Office to Re-examine Douglas Carter Prosecution

Today the Utah Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s order vacating Douglas Stewart Carter’s aggravated murder conviction and death sentence for the 1985 murder of Provo resident Eva Olesen. The Utah County Attorney’s Office is committed to seeing that justice is served. Because this case is now 40 years old, and given the evidentiary issues identified in the court’s opinion, we must thoroughly and carefully re-examine all the evidence, including determining the current state of the existing evidence and locating and potentially reinterviewing witnesses. Assuming that sufficient evidence remains to support the charges against Mr. Carter, the Utah County Attorney’s Office will proceed to retry him for aggravated murder. Because Mr. Carter’s conviction has been reversed, he is now entitled to the presumption of innocence.