Miracle and uncertainty: Families respond to removal of death penalty in 1985 case

SPANISH FORK — Doug Carter sat in a visiting room at the Utah County Jail on Thursday listening to his attorney explain that after 41 years, the fight for his life is over.

"He just asked me, is this true?" said defense attorney Neal Hamilton after delivering the news to Carter, who celebrated his 71st birthday just last week. "(He's) afraid to get his hopes up. He's had the rug pulled out from him before."

New tests by the Utah State Crime Lab proved his DNA wasn't on any of the evidence collected from the scene of Eva Oleson's 1985 murder.

And that fact may make the fight for his freedom a little easier. Prosecutors filed a motion late Wednesday afternoon withdrawing their intention to seek the death penalty and asking for a bail hearing where they will not oppose his release.

'Insane roller coaster ride'

Fourth District Judge Derek Pullan denied Carter bail just last week, citing the seriousness of the accusations, the reliability of the evidence, and the fact that he viewed him a flight risk. The judge's decision to deny Carter bail was a bitter pill for him, his attorneys and his family to swallow as the judge set his new trial for July of 2027.

The idea of Carter sitting in the county jail where his family is not allowed to visit for another year was so painful, it cast a pall over Wednesday's stunning announcement.

"This is wonderful news," said his daughter-in-law Melissa Anger. "But also, will he ever feel like that justice was served?"

She said the days leading up to Wednesday's announcement were "some of the darkest we've had."

"This has been an insane roller coaster ride," she said. "Sometimes it doesn't feel like we're living in real life."

Carter was convicted of killing Eva Olesen in her Provo home in 1985, just months after her death. Two juries sentenced him to death, one in 1985 and another in 1992 after the initial sentence was tossed out on an appeal. In November 2022, Pullan vacated Carter's conviction, but that ruling was appealed, and it wasn't until 2025 when the Utah Supreme Court affirmed that decision and Carter's case went back to district court for a new trial.

From the moment the conviction was vacated, based on police and prosecutor misconduct, Anger said they've felt like the state has ignored any new facts, while delaying everything from discovery responses to the actual trial.

"No one is hearing us," she said. "It seems like there's absolutely nothing that we can do, and then out of the blue, something that ultimately we had no control over. It's a legitimate miracle that information comes forward."

Anger said she'd been the one to tell Carter that the DNA tests proved what they've always believed. "He didn't do this. He is innocent."

'Our focus remains on Eva'

The family of Eva Olesen issued a statement on Thursday saying this development brings up difficult questions when they were already living with grief and uncertainty. The news "once again left our family without the sense of resolution we had hoped for after so many years."

"Above all, our focus remains on Eva — the life that was taken from her and our hope that the truth about what happened to her is ultimately established," they said.

The statement said they are "carefully considering" the case development and understand the Utah County Attorney's Office is still reviewing evidence to determine how to proceed.

"We will allow that process to take its course and will not comment on the evidence or the guilt or innocence of any individual while that review is ongoing," the statement said. "We remain grateful to those who continue to seek the truth and justice for Eva."

A press release from the Utah County Attorney's office said they do not consider Carter exonerated and they still have other evidence, including Carter's confession.

What happens next?

A bond hearing is scheduled for Monday morning, at the request of attorneys on both sides. Carter will be transported from the Utah County Jail that morning and may be given the opportunity to leave custody for the first time in 41 years.

Pullan is still considering a motion to not allow Carter's confession to be presented in a trial; he said he wanted to wait to rule on the motion until the DNA evidence was analyzed.

Prosecutors and Hamilton both agreed the DNA evidence could affect the outcome of the case, as Hamilton reiterated in a legal filing on Thursday with the DNA report.

Carter said he only signed the statement police wrote because they threatened to take the children of a friend he was staying with and charge her with harboring a fugitive. His attorney argued that evidence the same investigator threatened other people in this case makes it more likely he is telling the truth.

Hamilton also said he is going to ask for the case to be dismissed, and believes prosecutors should dismiss the case.

"They stole a man's life, and there needs to be some accountability for that. That begins by dismissing the case," Hamilton said.

Prosecutors may also offer a plea deal reducing the charge to something with a sentence Carter has already served, a sentence for second-degree murder in 1985 could have meant one to 15 years in prison. Carter could then decide whether to accept the deal or let the case go to trial on the current charge but without the death penalty possibility. Jury trial dates have been scheduled for next summer.

Hamilton said Carter has consistently maintained his innocence.

Hope for Carter's family

Anger said they almost didn't take Hamilton's call Wednesday night because they weren't sure they had the emotional bandwidth to deal with any more disappointments. When she answered his call, Hamilton asked if she was with Tyler Anger, her husband and Carter's son.

Then Hamilton said, "You need to put him on speakerphone. This is big news," Melissa Anger recalled. "So I put it on speakerphone, and he said that the death penalty is off the table. They're not seeking the death penalty again. And just for me, I was just kind of dumbstruck, like 'Wait, what?' And Tyler immediately started crying."

It was Melissa Anger who told Carter the news when he called her Thursday morning. But it really didn't sink in until Hamilton went to the jail to tell him in person.

"It's a weird position to be in now because it feels like this is too good to be true," Melissa Anger said. "It feels a little unbelievable…I was starting to believe that we would never get this phone call."

Like her father-in-law and their attorney, Melissa Anger said they're grateful for a moment of hope, but they're still so much fear about how the state will handle the case.

"Like this is just an absolute miracle, you know, where things have come together, and we are finally starting to see light at the end of this tunnel," she said. "But yes, at the same time, I feel like it would be foolish for us to get our hopes up."

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