SALT LAKE CITY, UT – On May 15, 2025, the Utah Supreme Court unanimously affirmed a lower court’s ruling vacating the conviction and death sentence of Douglas Carter, citing extensive constitutional violations during his 1985 trial. As reported by DeathPenaltyInfo.org, the court found that Utah County prosecutors engaged in “intentional misconduct,” including suppressing evidence, suborning perjury, and failing to correct false testimony.
The ruling follows a 2023 decision by Utah County District Court Judge Derek P. Pullan, who ordered a new trial after an evidentiary hearing revealed police coercion, withheld exculpatory evidence, and false testimony presented at trial. Although the state appealed, it did not dispute the factual findings. Instead, it argued that the wrong legal standard had been applied. The Utah Supreme Court ultimately agreed on the legal standard but found that, even under the correct one, the violations warranted a new trial.
“Applying the correct legal standard, there is no question that these numerous constitutional violations… prejudiced Carter at both his trial and sentencing,” the Court wrote, adding, “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.”
Mr. Carter’s conviction for the death of Eva Olesen during a 1985 home invasion was based largely on a confession he later claimed was coerced and the testimony of two witnesses—Epifanio and Lucia Tovar—who were undocumented at the time and vulnerable to police pressure. At trial, Mr. Tovar testified that Carter had admitted his intent to “rape, break, and drive,” and later confessed the crime to him, even mimicking the act while laughing. Ms. Tovar corroborated the timeline and claimed she witnessed Carter acting something out.
Years later, in 2011, Carter’s legal team located the Tovars in Mexico. They signed declarations revealing that they had been coerced and threatened by police into lying. They also disclosed that the Provo Police Department had paid their rent, provided groceries and gifts, and instructed them to deny receiving any such support. The officers allegedly threatened to deport the couple or take their infant son if they did not cooperate.
The Utah Supreme Court described the new evidence as “damning” and concluded that the Tovars’ trial testimony was “tainted as a whole.” The court also noted that no physical evidence ever linked Carter to the crime.
Eric Zuckerman, Carter’s attorney, issued a statement following the ruling: “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.” He added, “We are gratified that both the trial court and the Utah Supreme Court have validated Mr. Carter’s claims. 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.”
