For 33 years, Douglas Carter has been at the Utah State Prison staring down a death sentence for a brutal murder in Utah County — yet, just this week, the Utah Supreme Court heard evidence of the shady dealings that may have helped put him there.
If defense lawyers get their way, Carter may get a new trial — and, based on the information before the justices, that would be a just outcome, based on the gross, possibly criminal, malfeasance in the case.
What should also be on trial, in a larger sense, is the public’s confidence in the system of justice that put Carter on death row and whether, despite its flaws, we can continue to trust it when the state is seeking to take a person’s life.