Judge considering bail for former death-row inmate as attorneys prepare his case for another trial

SALT LAKE CITY — A former death-row inmate is headed for a new jury trial, but ahead of that trial, attorneys and 4th District Judge Derek Pullan met on Wednesday to consider the evidence and whether Douglas Carter should be allowed out on bail.

Carter, 69, was convicted in 1985 of the murder of Eva Olesen in Provo and spent almost 40 years on death row. After hearing arguments in the case, Utah Supreme Court judges said their confidence was undermined in both Carter's conviction and sentence, and on May 15, 2025, they affirmed a district court decision from Pullan granting him a new trial last year.

"It is rare to see a case involving multiple instances of intentional misconduct by two different police officers ... and a prosecutor. But that is what the post-conviction court found here," the opinion says, referring to misconduct from Provo Police Lt. George Pierpont, officer Richard Mack and prosecutor Wayne Watson.

It explained that no physical evidence tied Carter to the crime scene, but he signed a confession. Attorneys argued on Wednesday if Carter's signed confession could be used in his new trial, whether Carter should be required to submit a DNA sample and if he should be allowed to be released on bail while awaiting trial on charges of aggravated murder, a capital offense.

Pullan ruled only on the DNA sample question at this point, ordering Carter to provide it.

Olesen's family argues against release

Multiple members of Eva Olesen's family asked for Carter to be kept in custody. Her son, Gary Olesen, expressed a "strong, unified opposition" to the release from his family, saying they have deep concerns about safety after their mother was killed in her home, where she should have felt safe.

His wife, Theresa Olesen, said her mother-in-law was in her home, knitting a sweater for her son's birthday when she was killed. She said the high court's ruling was not exoneration.

"For 40 years we lived knowing that the person responsible for Eva's murder was behind bars. … His potential release reopens a wound that has never completely healed and creates profound emotional distress and fear for our safety and the safety of others," she said.

Eirik Olesen, her youngest son, was 14 years old when his mom was killed and said he feels strongly Carter should remain in custody the rest of his life.

"I am almost certain that he is not rehabilitated. He has signed a written conviction and has been convicted not once, but twice in the court system," he said.

Her oldest grandchild, Ian Olesen, said he was 12 when she was killed and that his release would cause his family "fear, uncertainty and emotional distress that we have worked for decades to manage." He said he has already lived for over 40 years with the pain from the loss of his grandmother.

"Her murder forever changed the course of my life, and the lives of every member of our family," he said.

He also read a statement from his father, Peter Olesen, who said her death, along with "roller coaster" court proceedings, have caused the family trauma "beyond measure," which would be increased by his release.

Carter's family expresses support

Tyler and Melissa Anger, Carter's son and daughter-in-law, said their family talks with him almost every day and that they would want to be involved in his life if he were released, and hope he would want to be involved with them. Tyler Anger confirmed he has not expressed a desire to harm anyone, and that he wants to see the case through.

Melissa Anger talked about looking into places he could live near them, and said her comments that she would support him would be true even if DNA tests came back placing him at the scene of the killing.

She testified she is willing to help him because "he didn't do this. ... We care for Doug immensely, even in the short time of getting to know him, we care for him a lot, and I want to help him."

Carter's attorney, Neal Hamilton, said both sides have valid feelings, and they have no ill will toward the Olesen family, but he said there were many decisions that should not have been made, like Provo police investigating the murder of the aunt of their chief of police, Carter's admission details being told to him instead of coming from him, and the bribery and perjury from the state that the Supreme Court found impacted his earlier trials.

"They deserve to have Eva's murder solved, but the fact of the matter is the evidence as it continues to evolve and develop points to Doug not being that person. ... I think 41 years is enough," he said.

The attorney called an expert to testify that because the knife was one the killer found at the scene and does not have a good grip, it is likely their hand would have slipped, causing the killer's blood to be found at the scene. Another specialist testified about Carter's family and one about the process of re-entering society after being on death row.

Deputy Utah County attorney Erwin Petilos responded to Hamilton's comments saying that Carter's DNA could still be identified from the DNA profiles at the scene. He also said Carter's confession is still considered reliable as evidence that he committed the crime. He argued that Carter is not entitled to bail based on his charges and the evidence.

Is the confession reliable?

Hamilton said he argued to keep the written confession out of the trial for "fundamental fairness." He said Carter has claimed that he had been threatened to confess with his friend being imprisoned and taken away from her son. Now, the attorney argued, there is evidence that Pierpont had threatened others in the case, making it more likely that Carter was telling the truth.

"Mr. Carter has always maintained that he didn't do this, that he was framed … and now we have evidence that confirms that," he said.

Hamilton also said the Utah Supreme Court found problems with how the confession was taken, but said it could be used regardless because there was corroborating evidence. Now, the witnesses who corroborated the evidence have said they were bribed and threatened for their testimonies.

The attorney claimed that Pierpont dictated the confession, and Carter simply agreed.

Petilos argued that the arrest of the friend was in Tennessee, outside of the jurisdiction for the Utah County prosecutor, and that it was not a threat, rather a statement of what would happen and did happen because she was accused of harboring a fugitive.

Pullan expressed concerns that the Utah Supreme Court had already made multiple rulings that the testimony could be admitted, and questioned whether he could make a ruling outside of ruling that it had already been decided. Ultimately, the judge and attorneys agreed to wait for a decision on whether the testimony could be shown to jurors until the outcome of the DNA tests so that if the decision is appealed, the appellate court would have that information to consider as well.

DNA evidence

Hamilton said the DNA evidence shows Carter wasn't at the crime scene; he said evidence from a blood palm print, Olesen's pillow and a footprint outside in the snow did not bring up a match with Carter. He said the evidence shows he wasn't there.

Prosecutors argued that getting a swab from Carter could lead to more information from the DNA. They said earlier when a motion to obtain Carter's DNA was denied there were no unidentified profiles; now there are.

Adam Yankee, with the Utah State Crime Lab, testified that some of the profiles he had identified did not have enough information to check for matches within the DNA database. He said there were three DNA samples he was able to identify were male samples, and only one of those was identified as Olesen's husband. There were also multiple samples he was unable to determine the gender for.

Hamilton said he believes they would have eventually agreed to the DNA collection and were not objecting to its collection but rather saying they wanted to obtain more information about those samples before responding.

Pullan granted the prosecutors' request to require Carter to submit a DNA sample, noting that there are multiple unknown DNA profiles from the footprint, two rags, Eva Olesen's waistband, and the knife used in the killing.

On Thursday or Friday, an evidence technician will take swabs from the inside of Carter's cheeks so that the evaluation can begin.

Scheduling trial

Pullan is retiring from his position as a judge on Dec. 11, but said as the judge who knows the most about this case he feels he should rule on each of these issues. He said it is important to move quickly, and the case would take priority over anything else scheduled with the court.

Scheduling a trial in November, when Pullan could oversee it, was discussed in the hearing, but attorneys had concerns the DNA could not be evaluated by both the crime lab and experts for Carter by that point.

The judge said he would consider both his calendar and the calendar of the judge who is replacing him and schedule a two-month trial in the next few days, sending information for when that trial will be through a written notice.

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