Trial Errors and Rights Violations

1. On January 9th, 1997, The Dallas Morning News and local news reported that in overruling defense objections, Judge Tolle stated, "You can take it up on appeal." We feel that statements like this severely prejudiced the jury against Mrs. Routier and was tantamount to instructing the jury to find her guilty. A motion for mistrial was denied.

2. Darlie was subjected to questioning by investigators from the Rowlett Police Department shortly after returning from surgery for her own wounds, while still under the influence of the anesthetic and pain relievers (Phenergan and Demerol).

3. The night of Darlie's arrest, Rowlett P.D. Public Relations Officer, Dean Poos, stated that Darlie had been a suspect in the murders twenty minutes after police arrived on the scene.

4. Several of the nurses who had attended Darlie the night of the murders, testified at trial that they had NOT met with the District Attorney, nor had they discussed their testimony with him or among themselves. The last nurse to testify on January 9th, stated that they had all met together with deputy D.A., Toby Shook, in Room 109 of the Holiday Inn in Kerrville to "go over" their testimony. In the room they were shown pictures of the bruises on Darlie's arms and discussed what their testimony was to be concerning those injuries. The bruising and the time at which they occurred was a major point of contention in the trial. The family now has a list of over forty (40) people who saw those bruises.

5. The grave of Damon and Devon Routier (the murder victims) was bugged by the Rowlett Police Department with the aid of the Garland Police Department. No court order was ever obtained for this procedure. Permission was not granted by the cemetery owner for police to come on his property, nor was permission given by Darlie or Darin (who owned the grave site). The police later stated that they had bugged the grave site in hopes of getting a confession. At trial, lead investigator, Detective Patterson of the Rowlett P.D., stated that lead prosecutor and District Attorney, Greg Davis, DID NOT know of the bugging. In an interview with Sylvia Chase of ABC's Prime Time, Davis again stated that he did not know of the bugging. Upon further investigation, Mr. Davis "flip-flopped" and said he DID know about the bugging, but not from Detective Patterson. Another officer had given him a "laundry list" of things the police wanted to do, and Davis said it looked good to him. He also said that he could not be expected to remember every detail connected with a case. (Even though it was an apparent civil rights violation.) March 5th, 1997, The Dallas Morning News reported that the Rowlett Police had been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins who said, "They bugged the graves based on legal advice indicating (to the police) that the technique was lawful. The efforts by the police department to run this by legal council prior to installing it was a major determinant."

6. Private correspondence that Mrs. Routier had written from her cell was confiscated and photographed prior to mailing for use against her in trial. No court order was ever issued to authorize confiscation. She and her attorneys were unaware that this was happening.

7. The jury was seated for approximately 6 weeks before the trial and was exposed to massive amounts of pretrial publicity. The jury WAS NOT sequestered despite this being one of the most sensational trials in Texas. When the jury was sequestered during deliberations, they were in the SAME HOTEL (Holiday Inn) with the District Attorney and his staff.

8. Police officers notes on the night in question turned up missing at the time of trial.

9. D.A. Greg Davis gave interviews with the press, commenting on the case and evidence IN THE PRESENCE OF JURORS in the hall outside of the courtroom. Davis was told five (5) times that a juror was present. He made a point of looking directly at the juror and continuing his interview until the 5th time he was asked to stop. Statements made by the juror at that time indicated that she heard what Davis had been discussing and felt she shouldn't have heard his comments.

10. There were approximately 975 photographs taken of the crime scene. The defense received only about 300 of them. The defense was not made aware of the existence of the remaining 625 photos until January 23rd, 1997. The defense requested that the remaining photos be turned over as they probably contained Brady material. Judge Tolle denied their request and ordered them to proceed with the photographs that they had. FBI Agent Alan Brantly used these photos, in part, to form his opinion on the case, and testified for the prosecution against Mrs. Routier.

11. There were numerous reports containing Brady material used by the D.A. and Agent Brantly to form their opinions, and this material was not given to the defense. Among these papers were reports by retired police officer James Cron, a hired crime scene analyst. These reports were first seen by defense on January 23, 1997. Defense attorneys were allowed only 45 minutes to review a 4 to 5-inch thick stack of documents.

12. FBI Agent Alan Brantly was allowed to testify using hear-say, conjecture, and personal opinion not based on science or fact. He never personally visited the crime scene. The agent appeared in court with only a portion of his file, thereby denying the defense the right to an effective cross examination. There was no empirical way to evaluate his opinion or testimony. Agent Brantly admitted he formed his opinion "backwards" in regard to normal investigative procedure. He stated that he started with the assumption that Darlie was guilty and worked to substantiate his opinion. There were running objections to all of this as a violation of rule 704, the 5th, 6th, and 14th amendments. All objections were overruled.