Statement #10

They said they found 4 tiny spots of my boys (blood) on my nightshirt.
1. Left side mixed mine & Devon’s
2. Right side mixed mine & Damon’s
3. Right side Devon
4. Neck and back Devon’s

Now according to the experts, my blood was mixed with my boys which means I had to have been bleeding when I supposedly stabbed them.

No, it doesn’t. The boys’ blood could have been deposited on Darlie’s t-shirt as they were stabbed. Darlie’s blood could then have been deposited in that same area after she inflicted her own wounds. A mixture simply means that two blood types were present; it doesn’t necessarily tell us when the stains were deposited. Supporters insist that there’s no way Darlie’s blood would land on the same spot as the boys’ unless the blood of all three was on the knife at the same time. I see it as not only possible, but likely. Darlie’s neck was bleeding. She changed towels on that wound at least twice. Her blood on the shoulder areas, deposited later, could have easily mixed with the boys’ blood that was already on her t-shirt. Besides, Darlie’s blood (not a mixture) was found in other areas on the back of her t-shirt, so it’s not surprising that some of it would mix with the boys’, and some of it wouldn’t.

s10_1

The blood evidence in this case can be crazy complicated, but a great deal of it is common sense. In a nutshell, Tom Bevel identified five stains on Darlie’s t-shirt that were definitely not from soaking through or transfer: TB3 was a mixture of Devon and Darlie. TB2 was a mixture of Damon and Darlie. Both stains were on the upper right front shoulder of Darlie’s t-shirt, and could be the result of spatter or cast-off. What is notable about these stains is their long up and down axis, meaning the movement of the blood was from down to up.

LS1 was a mixture of Damon and Darlie. LS3 was a mixture of Devon and Darlie. Both stains were on the left shoulder area of Darlie’s t-shirt, and were the result of spatter or cast-off. LS1 had a downward trajectory. LS3’s trajectory was upward.

TB8 was the clincher. This blood spot was small but mighty. It contained only Devon’s blood, and was most likely cast-off due to its location on the back right shoulder of Darlie’s t-shirt, as well as its long axis going in an up and down trajectory. It was consistent with Darlie raising the knife up, depositing Devon’s blood on the back of her shirt, then bringing her arm down to stab again.
Davis: Mr. Bevel, Devon’s blood stain on the back of the t-shirt (TB8). Would it be necessary for Darlie Routier to be bleeding at the time that it’s deposited on the back of this t-shirt?
Bevel: No, sir.
Davis: Would it be necessary for Darlie Routier to be bleeding at the time that Devon’s blood is deposited up here at TB3?
Bevel: No, sir.
Davis: LS3, if we assume that that is also two occurrences and not one, would it be necessary for Darlie Routier to be bleeding at the time that Devon Routier’s blood is deposited on that t-shirt, sir?
Bevel: No, sir.
(Tom Bevel, Sec. 3589 – 3590)

The defense suggested that the blood was deposited while Darlie was leaning over Devon as Darin performed CPR on his son, but no one at the crime scene saw Darlie move from the the kitchen bar. Darin himself, before he changed his story, said that Darlie was in the kitchen while he was performing CPR on Devon.
Davis: Looking at the stain on the back of this t-shirt, what is the maximum length that a stain the size of TB8 could travel to be deposited on that shirt?
Bevel: That stain, approximately 1 mm in diameter, will usually travel a maximum of approximately 46”.
Davis: I want you to assume that Darin Routier reported that the defendant was in the kitchen on the phone to 911 at the time he performed CPR on Devon. Is it possible that any of the stains shown in TB8, LS3, LS1, TB3 or TB2 could have been deposited on the defendant’s t-shirt as a result of any CPR that Darin Routier did on Devon?
Bevel: With that distance, it would not be possible.
(Tom Bevel, Sec. 3591-3592)

Similarly, Darlie’s defense contended that the stains on her t-shirt were not to be trusted, because some of the blood wasn’t completely dry when it was placed in the evidence bag. This can be a legitimate concern, but it didn’t rise to that level in this case.The way paramedics are trained to cut a shirt actually leaves it in one big, flat piece. In the ambulance, Darlie’s shirt was cut down the middle and down each sleeve from the collar area, allowing it to lay relatively flat next to her body. Because cast-off/spatter blood has little volume, it dries quickly. Considering the elapsed time between the blood being deposited and her arrival at the hospital, all cast-off blood spots would be coagulated and dry. Transfer is a non-issue in this scenario.

Bevel also disputed that the boys’ blood could have landed on those areas of Darlie’s t-shirt if she was lying in a prone position on the couch.  If she were on her back, as she claimed, that area would be protected. If she’d been lying on her side, the axis of the cast-off blood would be in the opposite direction, i.e. sideways instead of lengthwise.

The burning question here is why the defense didn’t call a single witness to refute Bevel’s findings. Supporters insist that the prosecution hid this evidence. Some have even claimed that in the state of Texas, the prosecution doesn’t have to hand anything over to the defense in discovery. Nonsense. Charles Linch met with members of the defense team – including Bart Epstein (trace evidence analyst) and Terry Laber (DNA blood spatter expert) – on 6/25, 7/16, 8/23, 11/20, 12/19 and 12/31/96 for a total of 17 hours. They had unlimited access to all the evidence, including the t-shirt, hairs, fibers, etc., for their own testing or for them to take samples for their own testing. In fact, Linch said they actually had first shot at the t-shirt, because “in terms of the type of evidence they were evaluating, we had not gotten to that step of our evaluation yet.”
(Charles Linch, Sec 2821)

Likewise, Tom Bevel met for four hours with Mosty, Mulder, Harrell and Glover in December, 1996. He provided them with the personal notes he’d made about his work in this case.
(Tom Bevel, Sec. 3371)

Conclusion
Again, Darlie is twisting the facts to her advantage. She definitely did not have to be bleeding when she stabbed the boys. As a matter of fact, the totality of the evidence proves that she inflicted her own wounds after returning from the alley to dispose of the sock.

The defense was keenly aware early on what Linch and Bevel’s blood evidence showed. Why Darlie’s attorneys didn’t call a witness to refute their findings is open to speculation. Darlie’s t-shirt (oversized and longer than a regular t-shirt) is also odd in what was not found on it. Not a drop of her sons’ blood was on the body of her shirt, the front area that would naturally fall forward if she had leaned over her children to comfort or help them. Possible? Sure. Probable? No.