Deep in the Heart of...Injustice - Part I; The Case

Imagine falling asleep on the couch, at the end of a normal day, while your two oldest boys sleep on the floor watching TV. Now imagine, if you can, waking in the middle of a real-life nightmare, and your two sons lay dying. According to Darlie Routier, that was what happened to her during the early morning hours of June 6, 1996. The police, however, saw her as the murderer. Her story is a horrifying one, and there are still, more than a decade later, many issues needing to be resolved. As she sits on death row, I’m sure Darlie has to wonder if a resolution will ever come.  This is the case of TX v. ROUTIER.
I’m going to do my best to help, along with others, to get her story out as I research the details. For those of you who don’t know about the case, I will start with a basic outline to give you an idea. From there, we will look at the investigation and facts, from both sides. By the end, I hope both sides will come together for justice. Let’s get started on the story behind the mystery.
Around 2:30am the morning of June 6, 1996, Darlie called the Rowlett Police Department screaming that an intruder had just stabbed her and her two boys. Her boys, Devon, 6, and Damon, 5, were dying. According to Darlie, she was sleeping on the couch in the downstairs family room while her boys slept on the floor in front of the television. She was woke by her son and saw a man in a baseball cap standing near the couch. According to Darlie, the stranger left through the kitchen and utility room and out through the garage. He left behind a bloody butcher knife from the kitchen.
Darlie’s husband, Darin Routier, was sleeping upstairs with the couples’ 8-month-old son. He woke to Darlie’s screams and ran down the stairs to the family room to find the blood-soaked bodies of his two oldest sons and his wife. The attack left one child not breathing, and the other struggling for air. They had both been savagely attacked. Darlie, herself, had been stabbed and her throat slashed. When the chaos would finally come to an end, both children would be dead.
The investigators didn’t take much time in deciding that Darlie Routier had murdered her own children and inflicted her own wounds. The State, along with the help of the media, painted her as a “self-absorbed, materialistic, cold-blooded housewife” who murdered her children because they were in the way of her “lifestyle”, but those who know her say different. The State claims her wounds are self-inflicted and superficial, but medical personnel seem to dispute this. The police said there was no evidence of an intruder, but as you’ll learn, there were prints and DNA, some not belonging to anyone in the house.
Let’s also remember that this happened within 2 years of Susan Smith’s cruel and heinous acts. She really did kill her children, and eventually admitted to it. Could the public outcry from this case affect the way Darlie Routier’s case was handled? Could it have caused the State to go into this case with blinders on?
The State does have a tape of “The Silly String Graveside Party”, as it has come to be known, that shown in part, would make a mother cringe. However, the rest of the tape was not admissible because the State obtained it illegally, but was that really the reason? I don’t believe so, but you can decide as we go.
These are just the highlights of the many serious issues involved in this case. As we go through all the facts, I hope you will feel as I do; Darlie Routier MUST receive a new trial if justice is to truly be served. This case has become huge in the world of capital punishment, but persuading your view on the death penalty is not my objective. My hope is that both sides, whether for or against capital punishment, come together for a new and fair trial. Even proponents of capital punishment should want to be positive they are executing the right person.
Stay tuned for the next post.  We will begin going through each sides' evidence, and how it was dealt with.  It gets very...suspicious.