DELPHI, Ind. — Four months from the expected start of the Delphi murders trial, costs for that trial continue to grow.
According to data collected by 13News, expenses involving Richard Allen’s double murder case now total more than $637,000, including expenses incurred by both Allen’s public defenders and the Carroll County Prosecutor’s Office.
Allen has been behind bars for nearly 20 months while awaiting his trial for allegedly killing teenagers Libby German and Abby Williams in 2017. He has court-ordered public defenders as his attorneys, which means Carroll County residents’ tax dollars are paying for his defense.
Through June 5, 2024, Judge Frances Gull has approved $443,364 to be paid to Allen’s defense team, according to an Allen County court spokesman. (While the trial will be held in Carroll County, Gull was appointed to oversee the case as a special judge from Allen County. She must approve reimbursement for necessary expenses incurred by the defense team.)
While we know how much the judge has approved in payments, it is not clear how much the public defenders have actually spent, how much they have requested in reimbursement, and how much in additional expenses they have incurred but not yet submitted to the judge.
Court staff did not break down the $443,364 for 13News, but that amount likely includes payment to Allen’s lawyers, their legal staff expenses and experts hired to prepare the defense. Those expenses date back to late 2022.
Most of the costs incurred by the state are already built in to the budgets for the Carroll County Prosecutor’s Office and law enforcement agencies. But 13News has learned the prosecutor has spent an additional $183,837.37 to prepare his case, according to date from the Carroll County auditor. The auditor has not yet provided a breakdown of those expenses.
Carroll County was also charged several thousands of dollars this spring to print and mail 600 jury questionnaires to prospective jurors. That process will have to be repeated – and more costs incurred – because Allen’s May trial date was postponed to October due to a disagreement between the judge and the defense team about the amount of time allocated for the trial.
While the costs have already exceeded a half-million dollars, 13News legal analyst Katie Jackson-Lindsay said that number will go much higher once the trial actually begins because the jury will be sequestered during the entire trial, which will be very expensive.
“Those people have to be housed. They have to be fed, because they’re being sequestered, and that’s three meals a day and snacks. That’s the majority of the expense,” Jackson-Lindsay said. “You also have to consider transportation. The jurors are going to have to be transported from whatever hotel location they’re in to the courthouse each day, so that’s the expense of a charter bus. And you probably have to also factor in entertainment expenses for the jury. They’re giving up their time for weeks and weeks, and you cannot expect them to just sit in a courtroom and a hotel room all that time.”
Carroll County’s auditor alerted taxpayers that the county council was seeking to appropriate an additional $2.1 million over its normal budget for anticipated costs related to the double murder trial. The council approved the appropriations request early last year, including $1,535,000 for personnel services, $530,000 for other services and $35,000 for supplies.
With just over 20,000 residents in Carroll County, $2.1 million in trial expenses would translate to about $100 for every man, woman and child in the county.
The county will be able to recoup some of that money because it is a member of the state public defender commission, which requires participating counties to ensure indigent defendants are appointed highly-qualified defense attorneys. The commission also establishes minimum compensation requirements for the public defenders hired by its member counties, which means Carroll County must pay Allen’s public defenders at least $100 per hour.
The commission will reimburse Carroll County for up to 40% of what it spends on Allen’s defense costs – a significant savings for a small county.
Allen’s trial is scheduled to begin in mid-October and is expected to last approximately five weeks.