DELPHI, Ind. — Three days of hearings are underway ahead of the trial for the man accused of killing Abby Williams and Libby German.
The suspect, Richard Allen, his attorneys, prosecutors, and special judge Frances Gull are in Delphi to deal with several issues including whether where Allen will be held until trial, what jurors will be allowed to hear, and whether the case should be entirely dismissed..
Hearing Gets Late Start
The three days of hearings are scheduled to start a 10am each day, but Tuesday’s hearing began more than an hour late.
The courtroom grew very quiet as four members of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office escorted Allen into the courtroom just after 11am. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit with shackles around his ankles and wrists in front of him. Allen’s attorney Andrew Baldwin walked in with him from the back of the courtroom and past his wife and mother who were sitting at the end of a row in the gallery of the courtroom.
Allen sat at the defense table between Baldwin and another of his attorneys, Jennifer Auger. Defense attorney Brad Rozzi sat at the far end of the table. Two sheriff’s deputies sat immediately behind them.
The judge entered about nine minutes later. As the hearing started at 11:13am, special judge Frances Gull apologized and indicated she was caught in construction traffic between Fort Wayne and Delphi.
Motion to Vacate Safekeeping Order
The first issue discussed Tuesday morning was the defense's Motion to Vacate Safekeeping Order. Richard Allen is being held at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Sullivan County. That's more than two and a half hours from Delphi, and at least two hours from any of his lawyers.
Allen’s attorneys have again asked that he be moved from an Indiana Department of Correction facility into either the Cass County or Tippecanoe County jail.
Today, Allen's attorneys noted that he is being held at the Cass County Jail during these three days of hearings. The jail is in Logansport, which is about 25 minutes from Delphi.
The defense team also submitted a letter from the Cass County sheriff that they say indicates the sheriff is willing to have Allen stay at the facility through his upcoming trial.
Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett testified that he does not object to Allen being kept in the newly built Cass County facility or anywhere else, as long as he is not housed in Carroll County. The jail in Delphi does not have the ability to keep Allen anywhere but with the general population.
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Liggett, who was not the sheriff when the safekeeping order was originally put in place, said he was concerned about Allen’s safety in the Carroll County jail.
The defense also argued that moving Allen to the Cass County jail in Logansport puts him just minutes away from one of his attorneys, which makes it much easier for them to work with him on their defense.
The prosecution didn't object, but Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland noted that he didn’t know what had changed since the last request to move Allen was denied. He also noted that Cass County does not have medical and mental health services as readily available as the IDOC facility. McLeland told the Court, “We want him to be safe, and we want him to be available for trial.”
The judge took the matter under advisement but did not say when she expected to issue a decision.
Motion to Compel & Motion for Sanctions
The next item on the agenda was a motion by the defense to force the prosecution to turn over discovery and do so in a timely manner. The defense is also asking for sanctions against the prosecution for how it has handled evidence.
Defense attorney Jennifer Auger said the team has received 26 terabytes of data, which includes more than 48,700 files. She told the court many of the files are labeled only with numbers, making it very difficult and time-consuming to determine what is in each file.
She said the primary problems the defense have are that the discovery is not organized and that it is sometimes not turned over in a timely manner.
Auger told the judge finding the data they need is "like finding a needle in the haystack."
The prosecution strongly disagreed.
"I feel like we're doing the job for the defense," McLeland said. "We've done everything possible to make this easy for them."
McLeland called the sanctions the defense wanted "ridiculous."
The judge took the matter under advisement but did not say when she expected to rule on the issues.
Request to dismiss case
After a break for lunch, the court began considering the defense team’s second request to dismiss the entire case. As testimony began, the defense worked to build a case that the state overlooked evidence that the defense says clearly pointed to a suspect other than Richard Allen. His attorneys also cite what they see as long, unjustified delays in turning over discovery and possible evidence, particularly items that might be favorable to Allen and help clear him of the crime.
In the afternoon ISP detective Jerry Holeman testified. He noted that Williams and German were killed between 2:30 and 3:30pm on February 13, 2017 on the property where they were found. Holeman also interviewed Allen just before his arrest.
The judge also heard testimony from ISP Trooper Roland Purdy. Purdy and another officer interviewed a local man in the fall of 2017, but prosecutors say that conversation was not recorded. Defense attorneys say Purdy saw photos on the man’s social media account that mimicked photos from the crime scene. On the stand Tuesday afternoon, Purdy told the court that he did think it was weird that the markings on the man’s hand so closely matched symbols left with the victim’s body. The defense notes that the prosecution has not turned over the image from the social media page. Earlier in the day, the prosecutor said the State does not have that image.
The Court also heard testimony from retired Indiana State Police detective Kevin Murphy. The defense team says Murphy and two other investigators believed third-party suspects might have been involved in the murders.
In a court filing, the prosecutor says there is no basis to dismiss the case and that the defense motion is “replete with unfounded allegations and distorted and misinterpreted facts.” The prosecutor says the State did not destroy or lose evidence purposely in bad faith.
Three-day Delphi hearing
Wednesday, the court plans to spend the day addressing two motions to suppress statements supposedly made by Allen.
One deals with an effort to prevent jurors from hearing about statements Allen supposedly made while he is being held before trial. That would prevent the IDOC guards and other inmates from testifying about what they say they heard.
The other motion asks to suppress anything Allen said to an Indiana State Police detective during a conversation just before he was arrested October, 26, 2022. Allen and his wife when to a police post in West Lafayette to pick up their car that had been seized during a search earlier that month. Allen spoke with ISP officer Jerry Holeman just before his arrest.
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The Court may also consider a question from the prosecution about whether it can use statements from an IDOC psychologist who met with Allen.
Thursday, the Court says it expects to deal with the questions surrounding what names and topics jurors will and will not be allowed to hear about, without prior permission from the judge. The prosecution has a long list of items it wants to be off-limits, including Odinism, ritualistic killings, geofencing of phone data and a list of names of people tied to the case.
The second day of the hearing is scheduled to begin Wednesday, July 31 at 10 a.m. in Delphi.
Allen’s trial is scheduled to start Oct.15.