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Thread: Douglas Stewart Carter - Utah

  1. #11
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On January 20, 2015, oral argument will be heard in Carter's appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

    http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/d...2015_Cal_0.pdf

  2. #12
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    If I am correct, if he loses at the 10th Circuit, the SCOTUS is the only option left. Am I correct?

  3. #13
    Senior Member CnCP Addict Stro07's Avatar
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    Correct. (Although I would expect delays due to Utah´s LI protocol)

  4. #14
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    (as would I or the firing squad, if he chose it that is) I hope there won't be any delays, this has gone far enough.

  5. #15
    Senior Member CnCP Addict Richard86's Avatar
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    I think states with multiple execution methods should dismiss challenges to the LI protocol as without merit, if the inmate has a problem with the LI protocol, then they can choose shooting/the chair/gas/hanging if they like, it's a moot point.

    Indeed, didn't the Supreme Court find that Walter LeGrand had voluntarily waived his right to contest the constitutionality of his execution method by choosing it? If these folks don't want LI, then don't choose it! See for example Brandon Hedrick.

  6. #16
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    DOUGLAS STEWART CARTER v STATE OF UTAH

    Opinion Date: January 23, 2015

    Court: Utah Supreme Court

    In 1985, Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Appellant later filed two claims under Utah’s Post Conviction Remedies Act (PCRA). The first petition was denied, and the Supreme Court affirmed. The second petition was also denied. The Supreme Court affirmed the denial of the second petition in October 2012. While Appellant’s appeal of the second petition was pending, he filed a Utah R. Civ. P. 60(b) motion for relief from the district court’s denial of the second petition, alleging newly discovered evidence. The district court denied the motion as untimely. In March 2012, Appellant filed a third PCRA petition. The clerk of court did not ultimately assign the third petition a new case number but filed it under the case number already assigned to the second petition. The district court dismissed the third petition for lack of jurisdiction. The Supreme Court (1) affirmed the district court’s denial of Appellant’s rule 60(b) motion on grounds that it was untimely; but (2) reversed the court’s dismissal of the third petition, holding that the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over the third petition regardless of the case number assigned to it.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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  7. #17
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Today the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit REMANDED Carter's case to Federal District Court for further proceedings.

    https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/12/12-4203.pdf

  8. #18
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    Federal appeals court reverses part of death row inmate’s case

    SALT LAKE CITY — A federal appeals court has reversed part of a death row inmate’s case, allowing him to submit new evidence of claims of prosecutorial misconduct.

    In a ruling Tuesday by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal court judges sided — in part — with Douglas Carter, allowing him to challenge parts of his death penalty case.

    “We conclude that the district court abused its discretion in refusing to allow Mr. Carter to supplement his habeas petition with claims based on newly discovered evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and suppression of evidence,” Judge Paul Kelly wrote in the opinion.

    “Because the district court did not address whether a stay of these claims to permit exhaustion was appropriate, we remand to allow this determination in the first instance.”

    However, the 10th Circuit Court refused to toss the case entirely.

    Douglas Carter is on death row for the 1985 murder of Eva Olesen in Provo. Prosecutors said the 57-year-old woman, who was a relative of Provo’s then-police chief, had been stabbed 10 times and shot in the back of the head in a home-invasion robbery.

    The 10th Circuit Court noted there was no evidence directly tying Carter to the scene, but police focused on him at the prompting of his wife, Anne. She suspected her .38 caliber handgun was used in the crime. Police claim Carter confessed after being arrested in Nashville, Tenn.

    However, the court noted, no evidence placed Carter at the scene of the crime. Only the testimony of two acquaintances, Epifanio and Lucia Tovar, placed him at Olesen’s murder.

    “Mr. Tovar described to the jury his conversation with Mr. Carter in which Mr. Carter described how he killed Mrs. Olesen. Mrs. Tovar testified that she overheard the conversation, though they were speaking in English and Mrs. Tovar only spoke Spanish. She testified that Mr. Carter demonstrated how he bound and stabbed Mrs. Olesen and was laughing. Notably, the Tovars testified they took the stand free of inducement, with the exception of court-ordered witness fees of $14 each,” Judge Kelly wrote.

    In 2011, Carter’s attorney filed an appeal claiming to have found evidence of prosecutorial misconduct claiming the Tovars got gifts and other inducements from Provo police.

    “Epifanio and Lucia Tovar executed declarations describing the favorable treatment provided to them by the Provo Police Department in advance of Mr. Carter’s trial. Epifanio, in declarations in April and August of 2011, stated that the Provo police twice moved him and his wife to a new apartment, paid their rent (roughly $400 a month), paid their utilities and phone bills, and brought them groceries,” Judge Kelly wrote.

    “He further explained that the police coached his statements during interrogation and specifically told him ‘not to say anything about [the police] paying for our apartment and other living expenses’ at Mr. Carter’s trial. Lucia Tovar, also in April and August of 2011, executed declarations that the Provo police sent them ‘gifts,’ including food baskets, one hundred dollars in an envelope, toys for their son, and a Christmas tree.”

    The court said it would allow the issue to be litigated in a lower court.

    The Utah Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday it was reviewing the ruling but had not made a decision if it would seek an en banc hearing from the 10th Circuit Court, where the full court would take up the case.

    http://fox13now.com/2015/06/03/feder...-inmates-case/

  9. #19
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    Utah Supreme Court focuses on lies and payments to witnesses in death penalty case

    The justices of the Utah Supreme Court focused on lies and payments to witnesses in the case against death row inmate Douglas Carter.

    Whether it is material to the homicide case or not could help decide if Carter lives or dies. The state’s top court heard arguments on Wednesday largely focusing on the statements.

    Carter is facing execution for the 1985 murder of Eva Olesen in Provo. Prosecutors said the 57-year-old woman, who was a relative of Provo’s then-police chief, had been stabbed 10 times and shot in the back of the head in a home-invasion robbery.

    Carter was placed at the scene by two key witnesses in the case, Epifanio and Lucia Tovar, who told police he had confessed to them. In court, the Tovars claimed they had only been paid $14 for their testimony. But Carter’s lawyers found later it was much more than that — police paid their rent and bills — and suggested the Tovars were instructed to lie about it.

    “They are impeaching and the jury needs to know about it,” Paula Harms, Carter’s attorney, told the Utah Supreme Court. “It’s also the promise of them. You have to remember before he (Epifanio Tovar) gave these statements, he was threatened with deportation. He had every reason to cast suspicion from himself on to someone else.”

    Assistant Utah Attorney General Erin Riley said Carter still confessed to the murder. But she argued to the justices that the situation with the Tovars was not relevant to the homicide itself.

    “If it’s not material, why are they instructed to lie about it?” Justice Deno Himonas asked.

    “Mr. Tovar says in his declaration why they told him to lie. He claims they told him that they didn’t need to mention because it was such a minimal amount,” Riley replied.

    “But it’s not a minimal amount, and you as a prosecutor would have disclosed this if you were back in the 1980s trying this case?” Justice Himonas said.

    “I would have, yeah,” Riley conceded, but said it was disputed that the Tovars were instructed to lie.

    “On a death sentence case, it doesn’t trouble you that an official from the prosecuting arm specifically told the material witnesses to lie about the benefits received from the state?” Justice Himonas retorted.

    “If that’s true, of course it troubles me,” Riley said.

    “It is true, for purposes of this hearing, it is absolutely true,” he said.

    Harms reiterated to the Court her belief the witnesses were told to lie.

    The Utah Supreme Court took the case under advisement but did not signal when it would issue a ruling.

    https://fox13now.com/2018/12/12/utah...-penalty-case/
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  10. #20
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Man on Utah's death row for 30 years seeks new trial in death of Provo woman

    SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Chicago native who has been on death row in Utah for more than three decades for the death of a Provo woman is seeking a new trial.

    Douglas Stewart Carter, 63, is asking the state Supreme Court to order a new hearing based on information that surfaced years after his conviction, the Deseret News reported.

    Carter was sentenced to death after a jury found him guilty of stabbing and shooting 57-year-old Eva Olesen — the aunt of a former Provo police chief — during a home-invasion robbery in February 1985.

    His attorneys claim Provo police officers paid two witnesses’ rent and instructed them to lie about the financial help. That information could have changed the case’s outcome, they claim. They are seeking for a lower court to review the evidence at a new hearing.

    “Mr. Carter’s been on death row for over 30 years and all he’s asking for is a fair trial,” defense attorney Eric Zuckerman said.

    Prosecutors said the claims are not true, arguing the testimony from the witnesses, who were Carter’s friends, matched his own admission to police about the killing.

    “Carter confessed to the police, and he told his friends, the Tovars, what he’d done,” Utah Assistant Solicitor General Erin Riley said. “These new declarations don’t change anything about their testimony, about Carter telling them he committed the murder.”

    Carter has asserted that he was coerced to confess, so the police officers’ alleged behavior lends more credibility to that claim, defense attorney Paula Harms said.

    “We believe the confession is thrown into doubt because the veracity of law enforcement is thrown into doubt,” Harms said in court.

    The lawyers presented arguments to the state’s highest court Wednesday. The court has not yet issued a decision.

    https://www.heraldextra.com/news/loc...0252d50c7.html
    Last edited by CharlesMartel; 12-16-2018 at 09:00 AM. Reason: add source
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    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

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