Douglas Stewart Carter, who spent 41 years on death row for a Utah murder he has always denied committing, was released on bail Monday after prosecutors acknowledged that newly analyzed DNA evidence does not tie him to the crime.
Carter, 71, is required to wear a GPS monitor while free. A judge granted bail over the objections of the victim's family.
He was convicted in the February 1985 killing of Eva Olesen, who was stabbed multiple times and shot in the back of the head at her home in Provo, Utah. Olesen was the aunt of a local police chief.
Carter, originally from Chicago, was living with his mother in Utah at the time. Police suspected him of killing Olesen during a robbery. Believing he was a suspect in an unrelated case, he fled the state and was arrested in Nashville, Tennessee.
During interrogation there, he signed a confession. Carter later said the confession was coerced. No physical evidence ever linked him to the crime scene, but a jury convicted him based on the confession and testimony from two witnesses who said he had bragged about the killing.
The Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year, citing misconduct by investigators. That ruling opened the door to fresh DNA testing, which prosecutors now say excludes Carter.
The case is among the longest death row incarcerations to unravel in U.S. history. Only a handful of inmates nationwide have served four decades or more before their convictions were overturned or cast into doubt.
Utah prosecutors have not said whether they will retry Carter or drop the charges. The DNA findings, combined with the court's misconduct ruling, could make a second conviction difficult to secure.
Carter has maintained his innocence since his arrest. His release Monday marks the first time he has been out of custody since 1985, when he was 30 years old.
The victim's family opposed bail, and a retrial decision is expected in the coming months.
