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‘Damning revelations’ result in a new hearing for a Utah death row inmate

Related Topics: Death row, Result, Provo, Utah

A Utah inmate who has spent 33 years on death row will get a new hearing after he raised questions about what perks and benefits two witnesses received from police.

In 1985, a jury convicted Carter of murder based on a written confession Carter gave to police — a confession Carter later argued was coerced. But prosecutors presented two witnesses at trial to corroborate the confession: Epifanio and Lucia Tovar, who testified that Carter had bragged about killing 57-year-old Eva Olesen, the aunt of Provo's police chief at the time.

The Tovars had disappeared by that time, and prosecutors could not find them to have them testify at the resentencing.