There were some other towels too.
BY MR. RICHARD MOSTY:
7 Q. Okay. And 30 is taken during your
8 very first walk-through of the house?
9 A. Yes, sir.
10 Q. Okay. And that is the cover that is
11 over Devon's body?
12 A. Yes, sir.
13 Q. Okay. Does it show a rag in it?
14 A. Yes, sir.
15 Q. Does it show a bloody rag in it?
16 A. Yes, sir.
17 Q. And it is -- there is a yellow figure
18 on that -- I guess, that underside blanket?
19 A. Yes, sir.
20 Q. Okay. And that rag is not quite
21 touching that yellow figure?
22 A. Yes, sir.
23 Q. Okay. Let me show you Exhibit No. 31,
24 and ask you if you can identify that?
25 A. That is the covers.
1 Q. Similar photo?
2 A. Yes, sir.
3
4 THE COURT: We will offer No. 31.
5 MR. GREG DAVIS: No objection.
6 THE COURT: Defendant's Exhibit No. 31
7 is admitted.
18 BY MR. RICHARD MOSTY:
19 Q. Is that also taken on the 6th?
20 A. Yes, sir.
21 Q. Does that depict -- is the rag in the
22 same location as it was in the picture immediately before
23 it?
24 A. It's in the same vicinity.
25 Q. Same vicinity?
1 A. Um-hum. (Witness nodding head
2 affirmatively).
3 Q. Okay. But not the same place?
4 A. Yes, sir.
5 Q. Care to explain? Yes, sir, it's not
6 in the same place?
7 A. Yes, sir, it is.
8 Q. Yes, sir, it is in the same place?
9 A. Yes, it is.
10 Q. How do you account for the way that
11 looks?
12 A. From the angle that I took the
13 photograph.
14 Q. Okay. Well, yesterday when I said,
15 remember when I stood right here and said, if you take --
16 that sometimes photographs are distorted by the angle.
17 Do you remember me asking you that yesterday?
18 A. I remember.
19 Q. And you didn't agree with me, did you?
20 A. Well, I don't recall.
21 Q. Don't you remember when I was talking
22 about taking 90 degree photographs? The reason is so
23 that if you get at an angle it distorts the photograph.
24 You don't remember that line of questioning yesterday?
25 A. I remember you saying something about
1 it.
2 Q. And you didn't agree with me, did you?
3 A. To be honest with you, I don't recall.
4 Q. But now your story is that there is a
5 difference between 30 and 31, is because it's a different
6 camera angle?
7 A. Yes, it is.
8 Q. But that the -- but that the rag is
9 not moved?
10 A. No.
11 Q. All right. Now, shortly after this,
12 these photos are taken, the medical examiner came in,
13 right?
14 A. Yes, sir.
15 Q. And you saw that rag again?
16 A. Yes, sir.
17 Q. Didn't you?
18 A. Yes, sir.
19 Q. And you photographed it again?
20 A. Yes, sir.
21 Q. Okay. And then you stayed at that
22 house and started collecting rags about 9 -- or you were
23 collecting in the 9:00 o'clock range?
24 A. 8:00 o'clock, in that area.
25 Q. Okay. And you didn't collect this
1 rag, did you?
2 A. No, sir.
3 Q. It had blood on it, didn't it?
4 A. Yes, sir.
5 Q. It was next to the body of Devon
6 Routier, wasn't it?
7 A. Yes, sir.
8 Q. It was -- you knew that the paramedics
9 had been in there and had done something in that area,
10 didn't you?
11 A. Yes, sir.
12 Q. You knew that the paramedics had
13 covered up the body, didn't you?
14 A. Well, I wasn't aware of that. I
15 wasn't there.
16 Q. Well, you knew that the medical
17 examiner, for instance, picked up the -- some of those
18 things around Devon Routier and took them to the medical
19 examiner's office, didn't you?
20 A. Yes, sir.
21 Q. You saw that happen?
22 A. Yes, sir.
23 Q. So you knew that what was next to that
24 body was important, didn't you?
25 A. Well, the blankets, yes, sir.
1 Q. But the rag wasn't important?
2 A. I didn't say that.
3 Q. It was important, wasn't it?
4 A. Well, it could be.
5 Q. It should have been collected,
6 shouldn't it?
7 A. I didn't collect it.
8 Q. It should have been collected,
9 shouldn't it?
10 A. I gave at that point where I didn't
11 determine that it needed to be collected.
12 Q. You made that decision that it wasn't
13 important enough to collect?
14 A. I made that decision.
15 Q. And that was a conscious decision?
16 A. That was my decision.
17 Q. That was your decision that that rag
18 which has blood on it and it is next to Devon Routier's
19 body is not important enough to have forensics look at
20 it?
21 A. I made that decision.
18 Q. And now, if there were a white rag
19 that had blood on it that was touching one of the
20 victims, you would recommend that that be collected,
21 wouldn't you?
22 A. I'm sorry, a white rag --
23 Q. If there was any rag? Okay. If there
24 was a bloody rag that was touching one of the victims,
25 you would recommend that that be collected, wouldn't you?
Sandra M. Halsey, CSR, Official Court Reporter
2977
1 A. No.
2 Q. You wouldn't?
3 A. No.
4 Q. You don't think that could be
5 important?
6 A. No.
7 Q. And I guess if it's not, then we would
8 never know whether it would be important or not?
9 A. Well, let me make sure I understand
10 you. Hypothetically, if the rag had been used as
11 emergency attention to the victim?
12 Q. Yeah. Let's say that. Let's say that
13 that rag had been used as emergency attention to the
14 victim and it was still there.
15 A. I would put that in the same category
16 as EKG pads that are left on the floor.
17 Q. Okay. That would still hold true if
18 someone had decided within 20 minutes that there had been
19 no intruder?
20 A. That's right. I would think that it
21 would be of no value under any circumstances.
22 Q. Okay. Afterwards, do you think there
23 would be any way you would know if that, for instance,
24 that bloody rag could have a perpetrator's blood on it?
25 You wouldn't know until you got to the lab, would you?
Sandra M. Halsey, CSR, Official Court Reporter
2978
1 A. What does the rag look like? Is it
2 blood soaked or is it have spatter on it, or, you know,
3 those things come into play.
4 Q. Let's say it looked like Defendant's
5 Exhibit 31, looks like a bloody white rag there, and
6 assume with me that there is a body under that dark
7 blanket.
8 A. Okay.
9 Q. And that when the dark blanket is
10 moved, that body actually has ahold of that white rag.
11 A. The body is holding, is clasping this
12 rag?
13 Q. Holding on to that rag. Or it's
14 touching his hands. I don't know how you would call it,
15 but it is touching his hands.
16 A. No, I wouldn't collect that.
17 Q. You would not collect that?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Okay. You don't think that that would
20 have any, even possibly any subsequent importance?
21 A. No.
22 Q. Now, if you saw two rags, would you
23 put those in the same bag, two bloody rags?
24 A. If they weren't already in contact, I
25 wouldn't.
Sandra M. Halsey, CSR, Official Court Reporter
2979
1 Q. Okay. And so to put two bloody rags
2 in a similar, in the same bag, that is not good police
3 work, is it?
4 A. If they come from separate places,
5 then you should bag them separately. That is if they are
6 deemed of value to submit to the laboratory.
No one said there weren't other towels. The discusssion was bad police work to bag two towels together. As you can see an experienced csa who worked the crime scene knows more than we do (and Darlie's mother) about what should and should not be collected at a cs.
Do I believe Darlie was using towels to help the boys? Not on your life. I believe she tried to clean up blood (bloody handprint from sofa, etc) and realized she was bleeding on top of what she was wiping. I believe towels were used to wipe the blood from the kitchen counter.
