DELPHI, Ind. — With jury selection for the Delphi murders trial still more than six weeks away, the case has already cost Carroll County taxpayers more than $1 million, according to financial records obtained by 13News.
Detailed spreadsheets released to 13 Investigates by the Carroll County auditor show how that money has been spent.
And some county officials tell 13News they worry the spending will go much higher, exceeding the budget they had originally forecast for the trial.
More than $2.1 million possible
13News has been tracking expenses related to the upcoming trial for Richard Allen, who is accused of killing Abby Williams and Libby German in 2017. Allen’s trial is scheduled to begin in mid-October, two years after he was arrested and charged with the murders of the two Delphi teenagers.
Since the arrest, county records show the auditor has paid $1,038,390 in expenses related to the Delphi murders case through July 2024.
“It’s a lot. It really is,” said Mike Fincher, Carroll County’s emergency management director who helped establish a $2.1 million budget for anticipated trial expenses. As costs related to the case grow larger and the timeline for the trial gets longer, Fincher acknowledges that funding might not be enough.
“Is there a chance you’re going to go over that $2.1 million?” asked 13News.
“I think everybody worries about that. I’d like to say no, but part of me thinks that we might,” Fincher said. “We might overshoot it. Adding another two weeks to the trial – 14 more days of hotel rooms and meals for the jury and 14 more days of extra security at the courthouse — we might have to ask for additional funds. It depends on how many expert witnesses are coming in, how many more hearings we’re going to have, those types of things. We want to make sure there is enough to get this trial done.”
Special Judge Frances Gull originally scheduled three weeks for the trial, which will include importing Allen County jurors from about 100 miles away. Richard Allen’s defense team later asked for the trial schedule to be expanded to five weeks, resulting in the trial being delayed from May until October.
Fincher said he sits on a committee that is tracking costs related to the Delphi murders case, and the committee will be meeting in the coming weeks to determine if more money should be allocated. In a county of roughly 20,000 residents, the $2.1 million already budgeted for the trial will cost every single resident of Carroll County approximately $100.
Defense attorneys, experts and investigators
Of the $1 million spent so far, $581,605 is considered expenses for Richard Allen’s defense. That defense cost includes:
- $434,273 for legal fees and administrative expenses for five attorneys assisting in Allen’s defense
- $49,071 for at least seven separate experts and expert witnesses
- $47,259 for three investigators and their investigative services
- $37,980 for depositions and transcripts
- $6,123 for juror questionnaires
- $6,899 for supplies and services
The legal fees include expenses submitted by Allen’s current legal team — Brad Rozzi, Andrew Baldwin and Jennifer Auger — as well as fees paid to William Lebrato and Robert Scremin, who Gull temporarily assigned to serve as Allen’s public defenders in late 2023 before the Indiana Supreme Court ordered the judge to re-assign Allen’s preferred attorneys. Gull approved public defenders for Allen after the defendant told the court he could not afford private attorneys to represent him.
According to data that 13News obtained earlier this month from the Allen County Court (where Richard Allen’s defense expenses must be submitted and approved by Gull before they can be paid by the Carroll County clerk), Allen’s defense team has submitted at least $68,000 in additional legal expenses that are awaiting approval and payment.
Experts hired by the defense include individuals with specialized training in computer forensics, ballistics, psychiatry, psychology, blood spatter science and Odinism.
Derrick Mason, executive director of the Indiana Commission on Court Appointed Attorneys, said the costs incurred by Allen’s defense team are high compared to most other murder cases in Indiana, but not surprising given that Allen has several public defenders assigned to his defense at taxpayer expense.
“This has not been a normal case from the very beginning, and this case, honestly, is more high-profile in Indiana than most of our death penalty cases, so it doesn’t shock me,” Mason told 13News.
He said the ICCAA will be reimbursing Carroll County for about 40% of eligible defense costs for Allen’s trial, including fees for the defendant’s attorneys, investigators, experts, transcripts and depositions. Those expenses are eligible for reimbursement because Carroll County is a member of the commission, which helps local communities cover the cost of big murder trials like this one.
“In those kinds of high-profile cases, you’re going to see an increase in costs, and having that 40% reimbursement is almost like having an insurance policy for counties,” he said.
The commission does not reimburse costs Carroll County will incur to transport, house and feed a sequestered jury (and the judge and her staff from Allen County) during the trial. Those expenses, along with added courthouse security, could cost Carroll County hundreds of thousands of dollars.
ICCAA also does not reimburse for expenses incurred by the prosecutor.
Legal help and a podium for the prosecutor
Through July, the Carroll County prosecutor’s office has spent $370,704 on the Delphi murders case, according to financial records that 13 Investigates obtained from the county clerk.
Most of that — $249,006 — is listed as attorney fees for several private lawyers hired to help the prosecutor, including Stacey Diener, James Luttrull, and Jackie Starbuck and her law firm.
The next biggest prosecutor expense reported by the auditor is $72,196 for a custom-designed multimedia podium with AV equipment that is being used in the Carroll County Circuit Court courtroom where Allen’s hearings and trial take place.
“There’s a lot that goes into these systems that provides a modern courtroom audio visual experience,” explained Brad White, president of Nomad, the Minnesota-based company that supplied the podium for Carroll County. He told 13News the company’s courtroom podiums can cost between $30,000 and $250,000, describing the Carroll County purchase as “on the lower end of our systems.”
Other prosecutor costs include:
- $19,954 for computers and computer-related equipment
- $9,345 to pay for Richard Allen’s housing at two state prisons
- $7,500 for ballistics tool mark experts
- $5,000 for a copier
- $4,000 for a trial consultant
- $3,411 for depositions
Carroll County sheriff Tony Liggett told 13News, the county is required to pay the Indiana Department of Correction $37.50 for each day Allen spent incarcerated at the Wabash Valley and Westville correctional facilities. The state can also request additional reimbursement for any medical costs Allen incurred.
Allen was recently transferred to the Cass County jail to await his trial, and the daily reimbursement rate for that facility is $40 per day, according to Liggett.
Courthouse gets security upgrades
The auditor’s office also provided 13News with a list of additional expenses that were not attributed to the defense team or the prosecutor. The $86,080 in “other” expenses are related to courthouse security:
- $63,308 for two walk-through metal detectors and an x-ray machine for the courthouse
- $15,535 for a gate that will be erected during the trial to limit access to the courthouse entrance used by the jury, judge and defendant
- $5,719 in rented fencing and barricades requested by the Carroll County sheriff’s office for pre-trial hearings
“We never had any of that. Being a rural county, we really didn’t have courthouse security until this came up. We didn’t need it,” said Fincher, pointing out that the metal detectors and x-ray machine set up inside courthouse entrances are primarily used only on days when the facility is hosting a scheduled court hearing for the Delphi murders case. “It put us on the map for the wrong reasons … It’s something we never anticipated being here. A lot of people consider [Delphi] like a Mayberry where stuff like that just doesn’t go on.”
Asked about the $1 million in spending, 13news legal analyst Katie Jackson-Lindsay said most of the expenses seemed well within expectations for such a prolonged and high-profile murder case. She said the attorney fees paid to the defense team are lower than anticipated based on nearly two years of legal work already rendered by the five highly-qualified attorneys who have served as Allen’s public defenders.
Jackson-Lindsay, who has served as both a defense attorney and a prosecuting attorney, did express some surprise that a $72,000 podium with new AV equipment would be allocated to the prosecutor’s office for the Delphi murders case and that the county needed to purchase security for the first time.
“It’s surprising to the extent that the courthouse didn’t already have some of those things, but again, that speaks to the rural venue where this horrific event has happened,” she said.
She also took note of the $4,000 the Carroll County prosecutor spent to hire a trial consultant — a service more frequently utilized by defense attorneys who want to test the strength of various defense strategies and evidence they might present to a jury.
“That strikes me as odd because a prosecutor shouldn’t have multiple theories, and a prosecutor should be presenting all of the evidence,” Jackson-Lindsay told 13news.
While the cost of the Delphi murders trial is expected to far exceed the $1 million that has been spent so far, the longtime attorney said ensuring justice often comes with a high price tag.
“What’s at stake here, you can’t put a price on,” she said. “We’re talking about life and liberty. We’re talking about the lives of two young girls that have been lost and the justice that is owed to their families. And we’re talking about Richard Allen’s liberty, his freedom. And so in terms of expenses, you can’t put a price on that. You can’t quantify what’s too much to ensure there’s a fair and just resolution for everyone.”
State police costs
Indiana State Police is also tracking its spending on the Delphi murders case.
ISP told 13News it has recorded $330,223 in costs since Williams and German were murdered in 2017. Those costs include:
- $264,110 in overtime costs for investigators
- $22,848 for investigator lodging
- $9,178 for a leased office for investigators
- $5,511 for investigator meals
- $8,576 in miscellaneous supplies
- $20,000 for genetic genealogy
More than three quarters of those costs were logged as part of the murder investigation prior to Allen’s arrest, with only $76,000 of ISP expenses coming since 2022.
ISP Superintendent Doug Carter said his agency has spent much more on its Delphi murders investigation than reflected in the line items provided to 13News, but that most of those costs were built into the agency’s existing budgets.
“If you consider all the expenses and investigation costs for Indiana State Police, we’re talking well over a million dollars,” Carter said.