DELPHI, Ind. — Richard Allen's attorneys are responding to the Carroll County prosecutor wanting them held in contempt of court in the Delphi murders case.
In a motion filed Feb. 7, attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi claim the prosecutor failed to show they "committed any of the supposed offending acts willfully."
Additionally, they said the state fails to "allege any act injuring the State" that would call for a contempt motion.
Allen's attorneys said any decision by the judge that would allege contempt would be the second time the court "interfered" with his representation. The Indiana Supreme Court already weighed in with a ruling, returning Allen's original attorneys to the case.
Prosecutor Nick McLeland listed 25 reasons why he believes judge Frances Gull, who Baldwin and Rozzi want removed from the case altogether, should hold Allen's attorneys in contempt of court.
He largely accuses Rozzi and Baldwin of violating a gag order during their time as Allen's representation, most of which came in connection to a leak of evidence, including crime scene photos and evidence that the state learned about in October 2023.
“The amount of harm and revictimization that [the leak] has caused the families of the victims is unmeasurable and incurable,” McCleland argued in the filing.
A hearing set to handle potential additional charges against Allen and other motions had been set for Feb. 12. His attorneys complained one of them would be out of state and new discovery on the additional charges would take weeks to go through. They asked for the judge to push the hearing back. On Feb. 8, Gull reset the hearing for Monday, March 18.
Here are the new charges Allen could face:
- Two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping (previously filed Oct. 28, 2022)
- Two counts of murder
- Two counts of kidnapping
Allen is accused of killing Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi in February 2017.
Rozzi and Baldwin were appointed by the court to represent Allen on Nov. 14, 2022. At a hearing to resolve preliminary matters held on Nov. 22, 2022, the state filed a motion to request a gag order for the case, which would have prevented people closest to the case, including family members and attorneys, from speaking publicly about it.
McCleland argued in the newest filing that although the court took the state’s motion to implement a gag order under advisement, Baldwin and Rozzi “refused to agree to the state’s motion that such an order was unnecessary because they had no intentions of discussing the case in public.”
The Carroll County prosecutor further argued that shortly after, on Dec. 1, 2022, Allen’s defense put out a press release to the public that McCleland commented on the case.
McCleland argued that the press release would have been in violation of the gag order Rozzi and Baldwin had previously not agreed to.
By Dec. 2, the court had issued a gag order that prevented law enforcement officials, attorneys, court personnel and family members from speaking publicly about the Delphi murders case.
“The order directed the attorneys not to comment on this case to the public or to the media, directly or indirectly, by themselves or through any intermediary, in any form,” the filing read.
In the new filing, the state asked the court to issue a "Rule to Show Cause Order" based on the information they outlined, and requested a hearing for Rozzi and Baldwin to appear and show why they should not be held in contempt of court.