Utah Death-Row Inmate Released on Bail After New DNA Evidence in 1985 Killing

A Utah man who spent more than four decades on death row has been released from jail after newly analyzed DNA evidence indicated he was not connected to a 1985 homicide.

Douglas Stewart Carter, now 71, walked out of the Utah County jail late Monday night after a judge ordered his release on bail. He will be required to wear a GPS monitoring device while he awaits a new trial.

Carter had been convicted in connection with the 1985 killing and had remained on death row for more than 40 years. The case has now been reopened after DNA testing, using methods not available at the time of the original investigation, produced results that undercut the evidence used to convict him.

A new trial has not yet begun, and the terms of Carter's release include the GPS monitoring requirement while proceedings continue.

The case adds to a small but growing number of instances nationally in which advances in forensic DNA analysis have led courts to revisit decades-old convictions, particularly where the original evidence relied on techniques since superseded by more precise testing.

Further details about the scheduling of Carter's new trial, and about the specific DNA findings that prompted his release, were not immediately available.