Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / New DNA evidence casts doubt on Utah death row inmate's case, defense argues

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New DNA evidence casts doubt on Utah death row inmate's case, defense argues · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: A Utah man jailed for forty years for murder, says
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  Speaker 1: he was wrongly convicted. Prosecutors have been seeking the death penalty,
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  Speaker 1: but new DNA testing could verify his claims of innocence.
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  Speaker 1: A judge originally sentenced Douglas Carter to death in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty five for the murder of Eva Olison in Provo, Utah,
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  Speaker 1: but in twenty twenty five, the Utah Supreme Court granted
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  Speaker 1: him a new trial after it was revealed prosecutors bribed witnesses,
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  Speaker 1: and this year, Carter's attorneys say new DNA testing indicates
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  Speaker 1: that Carter's DNA does not match what was left at
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  Speaker 1: the crime scene. CBS News has reached out to the
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  Speaker 1: case as prosecutor for comment, but we have not heard back.
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  Speaker 1: But we are joined now by Neil Hamilton. He is
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  Speaker 1: one of the defense attorneys for Douglas Carter. Neil, thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much for joining us. For people who are
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  Speaker 1: unfamiliar with this case, tell us about its significance.
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  Speaker 2: It's significant because the state of Utah has been has
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  Speaker 2: tried to execute an innocent man, and they continued to
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  Speaker 2: do so even though we have evidence that is from
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  Speaker 2: the murderer and that evidence does not match Doug. That
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  Speaker 2: has not stopped to state from continuing to seek not
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  Speaker 2: only his conviction, but his death.
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  Speaker 1: The evidence that you guys have was recently analyzed in
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  Speaker 1: a crime lab and the technicians were able to create
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  Speaker 1: some kind of DNA profile of the murderer. And why
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  Speaker 1: has that linked the case to anyone else?
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  Speaker 2: We don't know yet. There are in a capital case,
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  Speaker 2: there are far too many unknowns for us right now.
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  Speaker 2: We don't know if there's any other matches.
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  Speaker 3: What we do know is.
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  Speaker 2: That our client, Doug Carter, has been in the Kodis registry,
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  Speaker 2: that's the national database the FBI maintains of violent defenders.
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  Speaker 2: He's been there since nineteen ninety five. There were three
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  Speaker 2: pieces of evidence. Again we are very confident they came
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  Speaker 2: from the murderer, that this is the murderer's blood left
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  Speaker 2: at the crime scene. Those three pieces of evidence were
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  Speaker 2: run against Cotis twice. No matches were returned to us.
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  Speaker 2: That is enough the case should be dismissed. It confirms
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  Speaker 2: what Doug has always maintained that he didn't do it.
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  Speaker 2: That is unfortunately not enough for the state and we
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  Speaker 2: are proceeding with the case. Our goals to see Doug
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  Speaker 2: go home to his family. Forty one years has been
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  Speaker 2: taken from him, stolen, and that's enough.
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  Speaker 3: So what happened to Carter's DNA testing and why is
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  Speaker 3: it taking so long for the Utah Supreme Court to
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  Speaker 3: vacate that conviction and order a new trial.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the Supreme Court vacated it based on something completely
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  Speaker 2: different that the vacation of his sentence and conviction was
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  Speaker 2: based on prosecutorial and police misconduct. They threatened, they paid witnesses,
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  Speaker 2: and then they instructed them to lie about it. This
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  Speaker 2: is new. When we took the case over last summer,
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  Speaker 2: we filed several discovery requests. In March of this year,
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  Speaker 2: we were actually told by the prosecutor that the evidence
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  Speaker 2: we wanted to test has lost and destroyed. And then
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  Speaker 2: at the end of June, literally out of the blue,
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  Speaker 2: we received a report from our state crime lab telling
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  Speaker 2: us that not only did this evidence exist, but that
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  Speaker 2: DNA profiles had been developed from three pieces of evidence
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  Speaker 2: that were reliable enough to be screened against cotis. So
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  Speaker 2: we're scrambling to get caught up on this. This is
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  Speaker 2: all developing for us as well as everyone watching.
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  Speaker 1: So the key witnesses that pointed to Carter. They did
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  Speaker 1: retract their testimonies and they said that police basically paid
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  Speaker 1: them and threatened them, starting to deport them, and told
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  Speaker 1: them what to say. But Carter did issue a confession
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  Speaker 1: that he signed.
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  Speaker 2: Explain that yes, and that confession. We have a hearing
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  Speaker 2: the suppress that confession coming at the end of the month.
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  Speaker 2: Doug was interviewed for two days. During those two days,
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  Speaker 2: he said, I didn't do this. I had nothing to
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  Speaker 2: do with this. A friend of Doug's that he was
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  Speaker 2: staying with was arrested with him, and in between those
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  Speaker 2: two days of interviews, Doug was housed with a view
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  Speaker 2: of her. And this took place in metropolitan Tennessee, and
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  Speaker 2: they don't house men and women together. So Doug was
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  Speaker 2: literally kept with the front row seat of the consequences
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  Speaker 2: of his failure to confess. After on the second day,
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  Speaker 2: the detective from Utah, George Pierpont, came and thirty minutes
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  Speaker 2: later he had a confession from Doug. Doug said and
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  Speaker 2: has always said, that the only reason he confessed was
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  Speaker 2: to save his friend. Now, the problem with that confession
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  Speaker 2: is that Doug didn't know anything about the case. So
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  Speaker 2: Lieutenant Pierpont had to sit down with Doug and tell
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  Speaker 2: him what exactly he did. So we have a transcript
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  Speaker 2: of that confession, and the confession is Lieutenant Pierpont saying,
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  Speaker 2: and then you did this right, Doug, and Doug would say, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: that's what I did. So Doug has never came forward
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  Speaker 2: and said this is what I did. Others have set
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  Speaker 2: up for him. And these are the same people the threatened, coerced, paid,
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  Speaker 2: and then instructed the witnesses to perjure themselves. This case,
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  Speaker 2: from top to bottom, is flawed. It is deeply flawed,
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  Speaker 2: and that, frankly undermined illustrates the problems of the death
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  Speaker 2: penalty in this nation.
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  Speaker 3: So why are they still pursuing the death penalty? And
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  Speaker 3: what do you want to see happen next?
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  Speaker 2: That is a million dollar question. We would love to
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  Speaker 2: know the answer to that. I'm afraid that they're pursuing
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  Speaker 2: it because of pressure, because of political pressure. We know
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  Speaker 2: that Lieutenant here upon his son is involved in politics
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  Speaker 2: in the state of Utah. We know that the victim's
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  Speaker 2: family is adamant about this case, and rightfully so. They
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  Speaker 2: lost their loved one and they've been told for forty
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  Speaker 2: years that Doug did it. The reality is a hard
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  Speaker 2: thing for people to accept. We have nothing but love
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  Speaker 2: and sympathy for them and what they've gone through. As
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  Speaker 2: far as why the prosecutor insists on continuing, I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: We have an ethical obligation in Utah and throughout the
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  Speaker 2: country to not pursue a case that you don't believe
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  Speaker 2: is supported, that you don't believe there's a reasonable likelihood
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  Speaker 2: of conviction, or that they did it. And we don't know.
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  Speaker 2: We wish we did know. I was disappointed that they
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  Speaker 2: didn't accept your invitation to speak. I wish they would,
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  Speaker 2: They would talk about it. Our goal is again, Doug
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  Speaker 2: needs to go home. Doug has family, He has brothers, sisters,
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  Speaker 2: he has children that he didn't know about until recently.
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  Speaker 2: He wants to go home. He wants to touch grass.
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  Speaker 2: He hasn't touched grass in forty one years. He wants
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  Speaker 2: to do that. And our goal is to see him
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  Speaker 2: that Neil.
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  Speaker 1: What is and we're almost out of time, But he's
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  Speaker 1: been on death row for forty one years. What does
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  Speaker 1: his day to day life look like?
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  Speaker 2: He sits in a room probably a quarter of the
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  Speaker 2: size of my office and he stares at a wall.
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  Speaker 2: He's been kept in complete confinement on death row. You
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  Speaker 2: don't have cell mates. You are again sitting in a
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  Speaker 2: six by six cel, just staring at the wall. If
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  Speaker 2: you're lucky.
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  Speaker 1: We appreciate you sharing his story with us, and we'll
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  Speaker 1: continue to follow it. Neil Hamilton, thank you so much, Neil.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you Bill,