Utah to challenge decision overturning death row conviction

By SAM METZ
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah plans to challenge a judge’s decision overturning the 1985 murder conviction of a man who has been on death row for almost four decades. The Attorney General’s office said in a statement on Monday that it planned to appeal Judge Derek Pullan’s ruling that misconduct by police and prosecutors prejudiced the trial of Douglas Stewart Carter. Carter was found guilty of stabbing and shooting the aunt of a Utah police chief in 1985 based on his own confession and two acquaintances who said he bragged about the killing. He later said the confession was coerced and the witnesses recanted parts of their testimony.