DELPHI, Ind. — The special judge in the Delphi murders case is responding to civil attorneys for Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen by asking the Indiana Supreme Court to deny a request to publicly release documents in the case.
Allen is accused of killing Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, in February 2017.
Among the civil attorneys claims:
- Hundreds of documents are improperly excluded from public access.
- Allen has asked his "chosen counsel" to make filings on his behalf, and the judge ordered the Clerk of Court to remove those filings after ruling Allen's chosen counsel are no longer on the case.
- The trial court has failed to perform the “clear, absolute, and imperative duty imposed by” the Access to Court Records Rules and the Trial Rules.
Gull responded to the claims in a 20-page document obtained by 13News.
Gull said Allen, through his attorneys, is complaining about issues that happened months ago, instead of bringing up any issues in an expeditious way. Further, she claims Allen has not shown that denying the motion will "result in extreme hardship to himself." In fact, she stated Allen has complete access to all the documents needed in his case.
Gull states any issues Allen or his attorneys have, they will be able to bring up in appeal.
The judge goes on to claim all documents that are non-confidential have now been ordered to be publicly accessible. She said entering court documents to make them publicly accessible falls under the county clerk's office, not the judge.
Gull goes on to assert claims – "parties 'agreed' that documents would be sealed without valid grounds to do so" – never happened.
RELATED: Inmate claims abuse, intimidation by prison staff watching Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen
Civil attorneys' claims
The civil attorneys' claim, when the court made 118 documents accessible to the public on June 28, 2023, the documents were not labeled in a way for the public to understand what they were, and the link to find the documents was in a court order that required a member of the public to find, read and understand the content of the order.
The attorneys also claim a filing by Allen's defense team raising concerns about the search warrant for Allen's home was filed as a public document but was removed from the record. In that filing, the defense team claimed the probable cause affidavit used to obtain the search warrant for Allen's home misled the court.
The “verified petition for writ of mandamus and prohibition” seeks intervention by the Supreme Court to reinstate court records the judge ordered to be removed and to not order the removal of any additional court files. It also asks the high court to order Judge Frances Gull not to remove any additional court records from public access without first meeting requirements established by state rules.