Ok so now it is 2019...anyone have an update on Darlie?

Routier defense can explore evidence

August 12, 2019

"A judge in Dallas County, Texas, has issued an order giving defense attorneys representing Darlie Routier, a former Altoona woman on death row for the 1996 murder of one of her young sons, access to the district attorney’s files in the case.

Routier’s mother, Darlie Kee, who was raised in Altoona and still has many relatives in the area, sees this as another positive sign that her daughter is close to receiving a long-awaited hearing that could result in her either receiving a new trial or exoneration....

Routier is represented by several Texas attorneys, including Richard B. Smith and J. Stephen Cooper and the Innocence Project of New York.

The Routier post-conviction appeal has been stalled for more than a decade as DNA testing of blood samples from the crime scene have been underway.

According to an update filed in June by the defense and prosecution attorneys with the U.S. District Court for West Texas, the DNA testing is continuing.

But as of late last year and early this year, several developments have occurred that have brought hope to Routier’s mother.

The Innocence Project has joined the defense, and Dallas County District Judge Gracie Lewis has ordered the running of two bloody fingerprints that were collected from a coffee table at the scene but as of yet, have not been identified.

Kee hopes the prints the may lead to a possible suspect who, Routier claims, entered the home that fatal night.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Judge Lewis issued another order granting the defense access to the district attorney’s files in a effort to determine if the prosecution withheld exculpatory information from the defense in preparation for the 1997 trial.

Prosecutors are mandated to provide information in their possession that may be helpful to the defense....

Any information that the defense wants to disclose publicly must first be reviewed by the court, the Lewis order stated.

Kee this past week commented, “I think it is a good motion because they (the defense) will review everything (the) prosecutors did.”

Post-conviction hearings in both the Dallas County Court and Federal District Court for West Texas remain on hold."

Routier defense can explore evidence | News, Sports, Jobs - Altoona Mirror
Gee, I wonder what happened to the IP on this case????? The defense is looking for a scapegoat in the prosecutor's files.
 
All silly string fiasco celebrating aside, the key evidence is the fibers that match the screen on the knife from Routiers kitchen that was used to murder the children and the pooling of Darlies blood in the kitchen. Also the spatter and location of said spatter on her nightgown. Guilty as charged.
 
And let’s not forget that there was police testimony regarding hearing things being moved around during the 911 call. This, after being told not to touch anything. And evidence of blood being washed down the kitchen sink. Her motive will never be known. We can guess, but no one will ever know. What we do know, is that she thought the superficial wounds she caused herself would gather sympathy and create a victim bubble around her. Those pesky forensics sure get in the way sometimes. She will exhaust her appeals and the inevitable will happen.
 
Gee, I wonder what happened to the IP on this case????? The defense is looking for a scapegoat in the prosecutor's files.
I agree. The defense is searching for one print or hair that can cast doubt. But one print from an innocent neighbor etc will not overthrow the landslide of evidence against Darlie
 
I agree. The defense is searching for one print or hair that can cast doubt. But one print from an innocent neighbor etc will not overthrow the landslide of evidence against Darlie
I believe it's a stall tactic. The Appellate courts are only concerned with the trial transcript and what is on record before the trial courts. Not what is in the DA's files.
 
This site is THE BEST. If you guys have time, it’s worth a read. The Disputed Conviction of Darlie Lynn Routier

The forensic evidence sealed her fate. Not the silly string video. It didn’t help, but it wasent the reason. The lack of bloody intruder footprints at the scene. The blood map. The changing of her story 7 times. The fact that the screen was cut with a knife from their own kitchen..then returned to the knife block. The fact that her footprints in blood from the kitchen sink were cleaned..the blood on the cabinet and near the sink attempted to be cleaned but later revealed during luminal tests. The whole thing is ridiculous. She’s right where she needs to be.
 
This site is THE BEST. If you guys have time, it’s worth a read. The Disputed Conviction of Darlie Lynn Routier

The forensic evidence sealed her fate. Not the silly string video. It didn’t help, but it wasent the reason. The lack of bloody intruder footprints at the scene. The blood map. The changing of her story 7 times. The fact that the screen was cut with a knife from their own kitchen..then returned to the knife block. The fact that her footprints in blood from the kitchen sink were cleaned..the blood on the cabinet and near the sink attempted to be cleaned but later revealed during luminal tests. The whole thing is ridiculous. She’s right where she needs to be.
Damn. This is absolutely telling. I didn’t believe she did it until I read this. I had no idea they had evidence of her own blood with her son’s on her nightgown. And that there were signs of a cleanup near the sink. If she was chasing an intruder there’s no way in hell he stopped to clean up.
 
This site is THE BEST. If you guys have time, it’s worth a read. The Disputed Conviction of Darlie Lynn Routier

The forensic evidence sealed her fate. Not the silly string video. It didn’t help, but it wasent the reason. The lack of bloody intruder footprints at the scene. The blood map. The changing of her story 7 times. The fact that the screen was cut with a knife from their own kitchen..then returned to the knife block. The fact that her footprints in blood from the kitchen sink were cleaned..the blood on the cabinet and near the sink attempted to be cleaned but later revealed during luminal tests. The whole thing is ridiculous. She’s right where she needs to be.
Yep the blood evidence is very very damaging
 
Here's an update. According to the Altoona newspapers, The bloody partial print located on the sofa back table has been run through AFIS with no match. Not surprising since experts have stated from the beginning that print is unidentifiable as it's a partial, smudged print with not enough points to identify it.
 
Soon (aka a few years from now) she will get a final macabre "road trip" in a special van to the men's campus (as I like to call it) where the death house is. From what I have heard Texas has done away with special last meals. I wonder if she might get the gas mask instead of the needle. Google nitrogen asphyxiation. It is being considered by some states.

Now I have mixed feelings about the death penalty. I am on the fence on how I feel about it. Another time. Another time about that though.
 
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Just curious what everyone knows about Darlie now days. Seems like everything has been quiet for a long time now.

The fingerprint has been run and no match was found. 200 possible matches came back and will have to be examined by hand. None of those 200 possible matches belong to Darlie. The first responders , boys, neighbors, people known to have been in the house have already been eliminated. The innocence project has taken her case and are currently working on it.
 
The fingerprint has been run and no match was found. 200 possible matches came back and will have to be examined by hand. None of those 200 possible matches belong to Darlie. The first responders , boys, neighbors, people known to have been in the house have already been eliminated. The innocence project has taken her case and are currently working on it.
Yep and when they go back to the print cards, they will find only Darlie's print is a match as Pat Weirtham found, that her right ring finger couldn't be excluded. Her case does not meet the criteria for the IP to take it on, nor is her case listed on their website. They consulted on the fingerprint and not much more.
 

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