Evidence of Innocence

by Mark Smith

1. Darlie's bloody night-shirt was rolled up, compromising stain patterns.

2. Multiple bloody items were stored in one bag.

3. Bloody items were stored in brown paper "Albertsons" grocery sacks.

4. Of twenty-one (21) bloody kitchen towels at the crime scene, only five (5) were taken into evidence.

5. Unidentified finger prints & palm prints were found on the escape route window and window sill.

6. Bloody partial thumb print on escape route door - unidentified.

7. Numerous unidentified finger prints on overturned glass-topped coffee table in the room where the murders occurred. During trial, police testified that these were prints of victims. However, under further questioning, police admitted that no prints of the boys were ever taken for comparison.

8. Crime scene photos show Darlie's blood-soaked pillow in at least three (3) different locations in the room at varying times.

9. Police testified at trial that they moved physical evidence. For example, at the foot of the sofa upon which Mrs. Routier was attacked, were a number of personal papers, including tax records, medical records, loan papers, canceled checks, bank records, insurance policies, etc. These papers had been removed from the family business to their home for storage. From among these papers, police removed a three-year-old Will and an insurance policy, moved the rest of the papers, placed the Will and insurance policy by the bodies and photographed them. Then police released a statement claiming these two papers alone were found within two feet of the bodies.

10. The first two officers on the scene stated that there was no vacuum cleaner in the kitchen when they arrived. The vacuum cleaner was in the living room. Darlie, at one point after the attack, became dizzy and she steadied herself on the vacuum cleaner in the living room and blood from her own wounds dripped onto the top of the vacuum. Crime scene photos show the vacuum cleaner in the kitchen, contrary to police testimony. The prosecutors contend that the blood that dripped onto the top of the vacuum cleaner "proves" she put the appliance in the kitchen after the attack because there was blood and broken glass under the vacuum. We believe paramedics moved vacuum.

11. A human hair found in the screen on the escape route window was initially identified as belonging to Darlie Routier. This evidence was used at a bond reduction hearing. The police, after the hearing, admitted that the hair was not Darlie's, but that of a female Rowlett police officer. (Bond reduction was denied.)

12. A sock with the blood of both murder victims was found approximately 75 yards down the alley behind the house. Neither the prosecution's time-line nor the time-line of actual events allow for the sock to have been placed there by Darlie.

13. State's forensic expert testified at trial that there were probably two (2) different knives used in the attack. Devon may have been killed with a different knife which was never found.

14. A knife and screwdriver were seen by police within 10 feet of the bloody sock, but were not collected as evidence.

15. Michael Saul, reporter for the Dallas Morning News, was told by Rowlett Police Chief, Randal Posey, to disregard the sock because it was not connected to the case. [Dallas Morning News, October 11th, 1996]

16. Damon Routier, victim, was wearing black jeans on the night of the murders. When his body arrived at the medical examiners office, he was wearing only a shirt.

17. Pants introduced at the trial as evidence, were not Damon's. The pants introduced at trial were blue jeans, not black, and had very little blood in them, yet the underwear introduced as evidence was totally soaked with blood.

18. As evidenced on 911 tape, Damon is still alive during the call. Utilizing the prosecution's time-line, this isn't possible.

19. Two unidentified pubic hairs and one facial hair were found at the crime scene.

20. State's blood expert testified at trial that Darlie bled first -- before the boys' blood got on her night-shirt. Again, prosecution time-line does not allow her to complete the murders, plant the sock leaving no blood trail, break a wine glass in the kitchen, move the vacuum, and self-inflict her wounds, as contended by the prosecution.

21. Concerning the wounds, the state contended that Darlie's wounds were self-inflicted. Following is a list of wounds sustained by Darlie Routier the night o the attack: