NOTE: The above interview with Jason and Shelly Carter originally aired in March 2019
Jason Carter has filed a new lawsuit following the 2015 death of his mother, accusing the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation of conducting a "biased" investigation.
Shirley Carter was found dead in her Marion County home in June 2015, but a wrongful death lawsuit was filed in January 2016 by Bill Carter: Shirley's widow and Jason's father.
A jury found Jason liable for $10 million in damages in December 2017, and Jason was arrested later and charged with murdering Shirley.
Jason was acquitted in the criminal case.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Polk County, the Iowa DCI is accused of conducting an "egregiously incomplete" investigation.
"Even while possessing myriad statements and evidence implicating others in the homicide, the State doggedly pursued Carter without evidence that implicated him in the homicide and refused to investigate leads pointing to other suspects," the lawsuit reads.
Carter's legal team claims investigators engaged in witness intimidation, mishandling evidence and basing the case on "unsubstantiated, uninvestigated theories."
Carter issues the following statement through his attorneys:
“Five years ago, my family was torn apart by my mother’s murder, and the lead investigator accusing me of a crime I did not commit. It has been more than a year since I was acquitted and the evidence of the State’s failures came to light; yet, the State refuses to investigate my mother’s murder. The State has confessions, witness lists, and a motive, and still my family does not have justice. I do not want any other family to go through the pain that mine has suffered.
Special Agent Mark Ludwick, the lead investigator on the case, is one of the main areas of Carter's focus.
Emails from Ludwick calling the original civil lawsuit a "gift" and wanting to "put the first set of handcuffs" on Carter are among the new lawsuit's claims.
The civil judgment against Carter was upheld in February.