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Erin Newton
Independent Study
Professor Bornigia
April 25, 2019
The Wrongful indictment of Darlie Routier
According to an estimate, an average person has to spend fourteen and a half year in a prison before being exonerated (Ferner, pp.1). Likewise, the United States has about 2 million people in prisons, out of which about 40,000 to 100,000 people behind the bars are wrongly convicted (Ferner, pp.2). At the same time, the research also informs that about “1 in 25 are likely innocent” on a death row (Ferner, pp.2). It was informed by Huffington post in 2015, since then exonerations are increasing in the US. A report from Texas Tribune presents that “more than 200 people have been exonerated” in 2010-2017 that is twice in number of any other state during the same time span (Greene, pp.1). However, the number remains same in 2018, Texas is showing the highest number of exonerations (Greene, pp.1).Keeping those factors in mind, it is apparent that many innocent individuals are still incarcerated, especially in Texas. Darlie Routier is one of the examples, who fell a victim to the police error, evidence mistreatment, fresh evidence, and a frail evidence used against him.
Darlie Routier was born to Larry Peck and Darlie Kee in Pennsylvania dated January 4, 1970 (“The Famous People”, N.p). However, she spent her teenage period in Lubbock, Texas where she got married to Darin Routier in 1988. They were together at High School in Lubbock. As the Business of Darin flourished, they had to move to Dallas, Texas. They made a lot of money and Darlie would spent it on various luxury items. Likewise, she got breast augmentation. Moreover, they also renovated their house and bought expensive cars like Jaguars. They were living a perfect life and their neighbours also admired about their living standard. Darlie was very generous to her neighbours. She would cook cookies for the children in her neighbourhood and she also helped a cancer patients with their health expenses. However, it took a turn in their life when Darin’s business got into a big financial lose. In order to overcome the crisis, they went to the bank for a loan but it was of no use. They got rejection and day by day the tax money and their mortgage increased. Moreover, the evidence also showed that they were facing marital problems months prior to the crime.
However, few days later Ms. Routier wrote a suicide note in her diary and left a forgiveness letter to her children mentioning that it was not their fault. There are strong pieces of evidence that the couple was facing financial and marital challenges (Good, pp. 1). Darlie and Darin were having three kids. The first child, Devon was born on 1989, after a year of their marriage. Two other children were Damon and Drake. Drake was their last child, who born in 1995. Despite of their struggle with lives, Routiers were recognized as loving parents. According to the Facts and Fiction, three weeks before the incident Darin was very busy with the business matters and the family was hopeful that a sense of possible financial security is going to return. However, "In the early morning hours of June 6, 1996…Darlie Routier called 911 in hysterics, screaming that an intruder had broken into her home and stabbed her and her two sons" (Mcdonell-Parry, pp. 2).
Her two eldest sons, Damon and Devon, as well as Darlie herself, had been stabbed. Damon had already passed, but Devon was still alive when cops arrived. Darin, her husband ran across the street to get a nurse in an attempt to save Devon, but he ultimately passed away. Darlie had been stabbed in the neck near a critical artery (Mcdonell-Parry, pp. 2). However, the police investigated and convicted Darlie Routier for murdering two of her sons. The youngest son survived. Currently, Darlie Routier is 48 years old sitting on death row in Dallas, Texas and she is in jail for last 23 years. According to Darlie, she was with her two elders sons to watch and they went asleep while watching the movie. While her husband was upstairs with their youngest kid. Ms. Routier remembers one of her sons, Damon, "shaking her awake and seeing the back of a male figure walking out of the darkroom, through the kitchen and into the garage” (Mcdonell-Parry, pp. 2). According to Facts and Fiction, as well as Darlie's statement, she heard a glass break, and she ran to her utility room where she saw a knife covered in blood on the ground. She picked up the knife thinking that the man may still be in her garage and she yelled for her husband. Her husband ran down and began giving Devon CPR, while Darlie put a towel over her neck and covered Damon's back while she kept telling Damon to hang on that she was there. Paramedics arrived after Damon had passed and then, eventually Devon passed as well. Darlie also had marks on her neck, she showed it to her husband and he took her outside and paramedics put her in an ambulance (Mcdonell-Parry, pp. 2). According to her husband, Darin's statement, was almost identical to what Darlie told the police except that she claims that her husband came downstairs without his glasses on, while he says he had his glasses on.
Furthermore, there were many other errors made throughout the crime. McDonnell-Parry highlights important facts that were never exposed to the jury. Likewise, Darlie doesn’t remember the direct attacks, where she and two of her sons were stabbed, when she was taken to the hospital, while the pictures of her arms after the incidence show that there were “defensive black-and-blue bruises” all over her arms (Mcdonell-Parry, pp. 2). Later on, it was found that these photos were not shown to the jury. These photos mark that she had a fight. Questioning why she doesn’t remember the traumatic event you can turn to psychological explanations. According to the Science Daily, psychologist, McLaughlin, states that when the "brain registers an overwhelming trauma, then it can essentially block that memory in a process called dissociation". Clearly, the murder attack on Routier and her sons are traumatic events. It is possible that an individual can forget the event due to the trauma he or she faces. However, Ms. Routier had no control over the loss of the recollection of the attack that was a major factor in appealing that Routier was the guilty individual in actual, she was accused of murdering her sons and even harming herself. Another error McDonnell-Parry makes a note of, is the evidence collection. Clothes covered with blood of Darlie and her two sons were also placed in the same evidence bag, which could cause a risk of possible contamination. It caused a problem for blood splatter experts’ testimony who believed that the blood on Darlie’s clothing showed that she had stabbed her two sons. As a result, the testimony has been a topic of dispute that it is inaccurate and misleading, and the blood splatter expert’s testimony in other cases has been significantly presented three wrongful convictions (“Science Daily”, N.p).
Moreover, many people believed that police also purposely messed with the crime scene before even photos were taken. Before the crime scene had officially been secured, “at least twenty paramedics and police officers trampled through the house" (Good, pp.1). Good also points out that, in crime scene photos the pillow that Darlie had been laying on, is seen in changed positions. Likewise, there were also other items that were moved throughout the crime scene photos, such as the vacuum cleaner and towels that were covered in a blood. On the other side, Police claims that a “sliced window screen in the garage, and a bloody sock in a nearby alley – had been ‘staged’ by Darlie” (McDonnel-Parry, pp. 2).
Furthermore, the state's own expert testified that Damon was still alive when the paramedics arrived, could not have lived longer than 9 minutes. At the same time, the 911 call is recorded of 5 minutes and 44 seconds. Darlie was on the phone for that the entire time. The paramedics were held up for two minutes by police officers that were inspecting the house before they allowed them in. It gives Darlie approximately 1 minute and 16 seconds to inflict her wounds, stage a crime scene, and plant the bloody sock, 75 yards from the Routier house” (Good, pp. 1).
Similarly, another questionable aspect of this case is the fact that Darlie was never officially charged with the murder of her son Devon, while an autopsy did confirm the knife found could have inflicted Devon's wound, there was no trace of Devon's blood on the knife, this prohibited Darlie from being charged with Devon's murder because technically the murder weapon has never been found (Good, pp. 1). The motive for the murder is also questionable. The jury judged her for being a beauty pageant girl, with fake boobs, who wore flashy jewellery. All of these indicators supported against Darlie. Therefore, the jury convicted her on the fact that her motive behind this incidence was built upon due to the issues she faced in her life.
I find trouble in this motive because if she missed her prior life of being a beauty queen and her supposedly self-inflicted her wounds, why would she choose her neck, leave a massive scar and get close enough to an artery that she could have died of. She also left her youngest son alive. It is understandable that he was upstairs with her husband but she could have planned this on any other day, when all the kids were around and her husband wasn't home.
Moreover, another reason the jury supposedly convicted Darlie is based on a video made of her. In that video she is standing at one of her sons’ graves and she is there to celebrate his seventh birthday. The video shows that she is smiling, singing happy birthday to her son and spraying silly string on his grave. It happened after eight days of the murder incidence, the media made an episode out of this that Darlie didn’t care or wasn’t sad about losing her sons (“The Famous People”, pp. 2). Likewise, the video ultimately played an extreme role in her conviction. Even though her family supported her that it was a sad ceremony to celebrate her son's seventh birthday but the media failed to capture it either (“The Famous People”, pp. 2). The incidence further emphasizes on the fact that the media can have a drastic effect on the outcome of an ongoing trial. This is what, happened in Darlie’s case. Beyond all the errors that have been made throughout this case, it is an example of injustice where an innocent person is behind the bars without any strong evidence.
Darlie is on death row for many years, but she had given an opportunity to be taken off of death row but she refused. Moreover, in 2014, Ms. Routier went through a DNA test to compare to the results with a bloody fingerprint marked on the Kitchen counter at her house (“The Famous People”, pp. 3). Upon Forensic tests, the finger prints did not belong to any member from Routier family. However, in order to cover it, Darlie was offered by the police to admit the murder her sons and she could be taken off from the death row. She refused to admit it. On the other side, Darlie’s husband lost the custody of their son because he continuously supported his wife. In the long run, her family has also shown their support to her throughout these years. Currently, they are now on their third rounds of more extensive DNA testing being done on the crime scene.
Based on the police errors, weak motive, jury error, and her reputation within the community give me a reason to believe that Ms. Routier is innocent. Ms. Routier and her attorney Cooper are currently seeking for a new trial. Twenty years have already passed but she still remains on a death row.
Works Cited
“Famous People”. “Who Is Darlie Routier? Everything You Need to Know.” Facts, Childhood, Life & Crimes of Murderer, www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/darlie-routier-35030.php.
“Science Daily”. “Can You Unconsciously Forget an Experience?”, ScienceDaily, 9 Dec. 2016, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161209081154.htm.
Ferner, Matt. “A Record Number Of People Were Exonerated In 2015 For Crimes They Didn't Commit.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 3 Feb. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/exonerations-2015_us_56ac0374e4b00b033aaf3da9.
Good, Anne. “Justice: Denied The Magazine For The Wrongly Convicted.” Justice Denied - The Magazine For The Wrongly Convicted, justicedenied.org/darlie%27sworld.htm.
Greene, Sydney. “Fewer Exonerations in Texas' Harris County Drove National Rate Lower Too, Study Finds.” The Texas Tribune, Texas Tribune, 14 Mar. 2018, www.texastribune.org/2018/03/14/study-finds-harris-county-decreased-exonerations-last-year/.
McDonell-Parry, Amelia. “5 Convicted Murderers Who Might Actually Be Innocent.” Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/5-convicted-murderers-who-might-actually-be-innocent-126697/scott-peterson-195315/.
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