CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. — The special judge in the Delphi murders case will not step down. Judge Frances Gull denied a second request from the defense team to recuse herself from the case.
Richard Allen is accused of murdering teenagers Liberty German and Abby Williams in February 2017 near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi.
Allen’s attorneys, Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi, filed their second request to disqualify the judge on May 17.
In her response to the request for her withdrawal, Gull rejected the defense teams' claims that she was biased toward the prosecution and denied any misconduct in the case.
Gull said she did not treat either side more favorably, writing, “The Court has issued adverse rulings against the defendant, as well as against the State of Indiana. Adverse rulings do not support a reasonable basis for questioning the Court's impartiality, nor are they grounds for disqualification, they are just adverse rulings.”
In the ruling, she responded directly to many of the claims Baldwin and Rozzi made.
Gull also denied a request from the defense to remove what they called “gratuitous and demeaning commentary” from an earlier ruling.
In that April 30 order, Gull described the attorneys' work with the words “sloppiness, negligence and incompetence.”
Allen’s trial is scheduled for Oct. 15-Nov. 15 in Carroll County.