Is This Texas Woman on Death Row Really Innocent?

The year was 1996 in a Dallas County, Texas Home -- where two tragic murders took place. The main suspect? Mother Darlie Routier.

That night police received a frantic 911 call from Darlie about an intruder and the stabbing of two of her sons. Devin Routier, 6, and Damon Routier, 5, both died of stab wounds. Darlie was found at the scene with her throat slit and stab wounds on her forearm and shoulder.

According to Injustice Watch, Darlie told police that she fell asleep downstairs with her two sons -- her husband and other son were upstairs -- when she awoke to Damon touching her and an intruder fleeing. She said she found and touched a bloody knife and then realized she and the boys had been stabbed. There was also a torn window screen in the garage where the intruder supposedly got in/out.

With the initial evidence, police started looking into Darlie

In the end, it was decided that Darlie didn't retell the events accurately and according to evidence. She had changed her story numerous times, said some things there was no evidence for, and some things found at the scene seemed coincidental.

In addition, a video was used during her trial of her celebrating her son's birthday at his grave only a week after his passing. You can see her smiling and spraying silly string around. Many have said she doesn't look like a grieving mother here. Personally, I think people grieve in many different ways, and guilty or not, this video shouldn't have been used to cast guilt. Even if it seems odd to others. You can see a clip of the celebration in this video:

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According to Injustice Watch, "In the police telling, she (Darlie) had staged a break-in, murdered her sons, and cut her own throat, all to collect on the boys’ $5,000 life insurance policies."

Things such as her breast implants, not taking her children to church often, and going out with friends before Mother's Day were also used to define her character in court. I suppose there were meant to be examples of a bad/uncaring mother? Although none of these things point to that.

In her defense, experts took the stand to say they believed she didn't kill her sons and was telling the truth, but on the other end of things, I also think 'experts' can be found for anything. Some evidence at the scene and the timeline of events were brought up as well with the argument that, essentially, it didn't make sense.

In the end, Darlie was convicted of capital murder.

So is Darlie really guilty?

A recent podcast, Murder With My Husband, is what got me thinking about this case. honestly, I'm a bit split on whether or not she is guilty; at the same time, I don't think there was enough compelling evidence to sentence Darlie to death.

It's an unfortunate truth that the American justice system is slow. In fact, with new, improved DNA testing today, some DNA from this case has been resubmitted to see who it belongs to. But years later those results haven't come back.

My biggest thing is, if she is innocent, Darlie has been sitting in prison on death row for over 25 years. But hopefully, truly solid answers will soon be given for everything.

No this is a VERY brief synopsis with a lot of details left out and some of my own opinion sprinkled in. You can read more here.