Texas, Voodoo Science and Darlie Routier

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) reports that a group of five of the nation’s leading arson experts have dismissed the “evidence” which sent a Texas man to the execution gurney in 2004 as little more than folk lore which has been scientifically disproved.

The group, which reviewed the evidence pro bono at the request of the New York Innocence Project, stated that "Each and every one of the indicators,” listed as evidence of arson “means absolutely nothing" and was consistent with indicators "routinely created by accidental fires."

The report also indicated that many arson investigators are self-taught and "inept," and pointed out that there "is no crime other than homicide by arson for which a person can be sent to death row based on the unsupported opinion of someone who received all of his training on the job."

Well that really sucks doesn’t it? If you had ANY doubt that wrongly convicted people get executed in this country, listen very carefully. This poor bastard was convicted of murdering his three children, through arson, with evidence that was meaningless voodoo science. Yet, I guarantee you, that if you went back to the Deputy Fire Marshal that declared it to be arson in the first place, he’d still insist he was right. Well, I guess I can’t blame him for that though. How could he face himself once he accepted that he sent a man off to die based upon nonsense that he accepted as true? That would take a degree of courage beyond that possessed by most men.

If that report doesn’t put all of those Fire Marshals out of business, or at least send them off to be retrained, there ain’t no justice in Texas. Ok, ok, so the term “Texas Justice” is a Texas sized oxymoron so I shouldn’t really be surprised. Sort of reminds you of all those witch hunting priests who burned innocents based upon superstitious nonsense don’t it?

Which brings us to an update on Darlie Routier who I reported on last January (Alencon’s Place – The Case of Darlie Routier). I'm not certain that Darlie would agee with the arson experts that only due to arson can someone be sent to death row based upon the unsupported opinion of someone who learned his trade on the job. Darlie also appears to have been convicted by voodoo science and the so-called “expert opinion” of crime scene investigators along with the support of a little touch of character assassination by the prosecution.

Darlie is still waiting on DNA testing from the crime scene and the web site pushing her innocence wants to know what the state of Texas is so worried about? That’s a damn good question. The prosecution is supposed to see that justice is done and not simply to win convictions, so why not test the DNA? Is the entire justice system in the state of Texas as “inept” as its fire marshals? Well yeah, of course it is, I mean, it’s Texas, Incompetence Capital of the World!

Here’s hoping this report on voodoo science and “inept” opinion leading to an unjustified execution leads someone in Texas to look into other cases, like Darlie’s, where the conviction is also based more upon so-called expert opinion than hard forensic evidence. I honestly don’t know if Darlie is innocent as a lot of folks seem to think, but I think there are more than enough open holes in the case to warrant a new trial not the least of which is one lady from the jury saying that no one proved she was innocent! They DO understand in Texas that the burden of proof is on the prosecution don’t they?