The Contrasting Styles of Greg Davis and Doug Mulder The Dallas Morning News December 14, 1996 Courting Victory Routier defense, prosecution have opposite objectives, contrasting styles Author: Steve Scott; Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News ************************** Doug Mulder sounds self-assured even while calling himself an underdog. The famed defense attorney says he can keep capital murder defendant Darlie Routier out of prison and the death chamber despite the daunting resources his opponent, Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis, has at his disposal. Mr. Mulder, who won the 1993 acquittal of former minister Walker Railey on highly publicized charges that he tried to strangle his wife, shows no cracks in his trademark confidence. He stands facing his reflection as he watches darkness fall outside the windows of his expansive 26th-floor Dallas office. I think Im going to win, he says, but I always think that. On the opposite side of downtown the case looks quite different to Mr. Davis. He sits surrounded at his desk by pieces of the evidence he plans to use against Mr. Mulders client at her death penalty trial next month in the deaths of her two sons. Testimony in Ms. Routiers trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 6, seven months to the day after her sons Damon, 5, and Devon, 6, were fatally stabbed in the Routier familys Rowlett home. Ms. Routier has said that an intruder killed the boys and then attacked her before fleeing. Police and prosecutors say Ms. Routier made up the story and staged the crime scene to fool investigators. Mr. Mulder says there is evidence, including police reports about an attempted break-in at a neighbors house, to support his clients statements. The proceedings in Kerrville, where the trial was moved to avoid continuing publicity, will see Mr. Davis, the top trial lawyer in the Dallas County district attorneys office, pitted against Mr. Mulder, whose name has been attached to some of Dallas most controversial criminal cases in recent memory. Both have worked as prosecutors and sent murderers to death row. Both have defended people accused of crimes. But observers say it would be difficult to confuse the two - in court or out.When hes not working, which is rare, Mr. Mulder, 58, might be playing golf, taking his Porsche out for a weekend spin or deep-sea fishing in the Bahamas. Mr. Davis, 45, is apt to be coaching his 9-year-old sons YMCA basketball team. Observers say Mr. Mulder often wins in court by finding the loose threads in a prosecutors presentation and tugging at them tenaciously until the states case unravels. Mr. Davis, they say, excels by weaving cases with very few loose threads. I think its just probably what I was made to do, Mr. Davis says of his job in the district attorneys office. Nothings ever given me the professional satisfaction that being a prosecutor does.He says, I like the idea that all the countys residents are my clients and that Im giving something back by doing this job. I leave here every day knowing that Ive done something to help the community, make it a little bit better. Ms. Routiers trial is the biggest undertaking of his career, and it shows. There is almost no empty floor space in his cramped office, which has become a wall-to-wall jumble of documents, photos and display boards. But if his work space looks chaotic, colleagues and observers say Mr. Davis courtroom style is not. Hes very methodical and meticulous, said state District Judge Larry Baraka, in whose court Mr. Davis served as a chief prosecutor for nearly two years. Hes able to present a complex case in such a way that a dunderhead could get it, but he does it in a manner that doesnt insult the jurys intelligence. In a capital murder trial in March, Mr. Davis presented detailed testimony and scientific evidence linking Juan Rodriguez Chavez to a dozen murders after discrediting a false confession from another suspect. Jurors sentenced Mr. Chavez to death. This is a case where you take all of the elements and put them together and then you get the clear picture, Mr. Davis said. You have more things to work with, but also more things to explain to the jury. Heavy black notebooks stacked on his desk contain the outline of the case he plans to present for jurors. When the trial begins, he will lay the first notebook open on the counsel table in front of him and calmly leaf through it - mentally checking off each point as he questions his witnesses. Mr. Davis also will have already tagged and cataloged all of the nearly 200 pieces of evidence prosecutors plan to introduce and will use dozens of poster-board diagrams to illustrate key points. Through it all, his presentation is likely to be low-key, delivered with a faint twang and an occasional wry smile. Hes not one of these fast-talking, wisecracking kind of guys, said defense attorney and former prosecutor Dan Hagood. Dont let Davis demeanor deceive you. Sometimes the guy you gotta watch out for is the quietest guy. Doug Mulders approach isnt necessarily quiet, but observers say hes definitely an adversary to watch out for. His is a take-charge attitude designed to test a judges limits and gain jurors respect for his own command of the law and the facts. Doug is a tough dude, said Judge Baraka, who before becoming a judge worked in the district attorneys office with Mr. Mulder. If I were in a fight, Id want Doug on my side.If the judge doesnt control that courtroom, Doug will be the one controlling it, he said. Mr. Mulder shrugs off those comments, saying he would rather persuade a jury with logic and common sense. But he acknowledges favoring a direct approach in dealing with others. What you see is what you get, he says. Theres no mystery about me, and this case isnt going to be any exception. As an example of that directness, one attorney recalled that as a prosecutor, Mr. Mulder once told a courtroom spectator he would have a murder defendant stuffed and mounted by weeks end. Mr. Mulder says he doesnt remember that. But, he adds, No ones ever accused me of dragging a case out. Im very goal-oriented, and I know where Im going. Ms. Routiers relatives hired Mr. Mulder in October, calling him the best and dismissing her court-appointed attorneys. Those whove worked with Mr. Mulder and against him say the goal he pursues most passionately is winning. He likes to win - a lot, Mr. Hagood said, and he hates to lose. That seemed clear at the end of Mr. Mulders last high-profile case against Dallas County prosecutors, the capital murder trial of Joy Davis Aylor. Jurors convicted Ms. Aylor of capital murder in 1994 on charges that she paid for the 1983 killing of her husbands girlfriend. When jurors returned their verdict, observers noted Mr. Mulder was absent from the courtroom. Critics called him a sore loser. He maintains that he was working outside the courthouse when the verdict came in and that his office was unable to reach him. But a comment after the trial suggested that he also looked forward to a high-profile rematch with the district attorneys office in which he hoped to have the upper hand. Maybe things will work out differently next time, he said. Maybe theyll have the sun in their eyes and Ill have it at my back. Some say he has bent the rules to win. Mr. Mulder gained notoriety as the prosecutor accused of suppressing evidence in the murder case of Randall Dale Adams. Mr. Adams conviction on a charge of killing a Dallas police officer was overturned 12 years later, in 1989. Mr. Mulder produced witness affidavits disputing any misconduct and maintains that he can still prove Mr. Adams guilt. Those close to him say Mr. Mulders passion for excelling and winning runs so deep he once discouraged a friend from taking up golf because he believed the friend would never play well enough to compete. I dont know many people who do like to lose or who dont care, Mr. Mulder concludes. Ive certainly never had a client come in here who didnt care whether they won or lost. Friends and relatives say Mr. Mulder is tireless in his efforts to come out on top, spending frequent late nights and weekends at the office. Mr. Mulders son, Chris, now a Dallas County assistant district attorney himself, can attest to his fathers work ethic. The younger Mulders boyhood memories include weekend trips to the courthouse with his father. His father also brought his work, including crime scene photos, home with him, a practice he continues, the younger Mulder said. He uses the pool table now to lay out his photos, Chris Mulder says. My mom doesnt want him messing up the dining table anymore. Jurors will decide next month which of the lawyers presents a more credible case. Until then, both are saying little about their trial strategy and even less about each other. My preparation for this trial didnt change one whit because of Mr. Mulders hiring as Ms. Routiers lawyer, Mr. Davis said. My preparation has been dealing with the evidence, and that hasnt changed. Mr. Mulder says he also is concentrating on his own plans and not on his opponent. I, too, am thorough, Mr. Mulder says, and I expect to be as well-prepared as I can be.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 06:25:42 +0000
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