ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. – Several issues will be under discussion in the Delphi murder case when attorneys for the prosecution and defense gather in Allen County Tuesday.
Last week, Special Judge Fran Gull scheduled a pretrial hearing for May 7 after a flurry of motions from both sides. The hearing comes about a week ahead of jury selection in the trial of Richard Allen.
Allen charged in high-profile 2017 case
Allen faces four counts of murder in connection with the February 2017 deaths of Abby Williams and Libby German near the Monon High Bridge. Indiana State Police announced his arrest in October 2022.
Since that announcement, the case has been at the center of tense legal maneuvering between the state and Allen’s defense.
Allen was moved from Wabash Valley Correctional Facility to the Allen County Jail this week ahead of the hearing. As a result, a new booking photo was taken.
Tuesday’s hearing will include discussion of the prosecution’s motion in limine seeking to prohibit the defense from bringing up its alternative murder theory in court and a defense motion expressing concerns about the length of the trial.
Prosecution motion in limine
Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland and his staff filed a motion in limine—a pretrial motion seeking to exclude certain evidence, testimony or arguments from being presented in court.
In September 2023, Allen’s attorneys, Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi, filed a memorandum in support of a Franks hearing seeking to have the search warrant thrown out.
The attorneys argued that adherents of Odinism, a Norse pagan religion coopted in recent years by white supremacists, killed the girls as part of a sacrificial rite. They argued police did not thoroughly investigate the angle. McLeland has previously dismissed the theory as “fanciful.”
The state’s motion seeks to bar the defense from mentioning the theory during the trial and jury selection. McLeland is asking the court to bar Allen’s defense from using several terms, including “Odinism” and “cult or ritualistic killing.” The state also looked to prevent the defense from naming several people previously linked to the case in one way or another.
McLeland argued that, in order to introduce a third party, the defense “must show some connection between the 3rd party and the crime.”
He also sought to suppress references to the investigation conducted by Todd Click, a Rushville officer who investigated the Odinism angle, as well as geofencing issues not directly related to the case.
The state argued raising these issues could create confusion or prejudice the jury.
Defense motion on trial length
Last week, Baldwin and Rozzi filed a motion requesting a pretrial hearing in the case. Gull quickly set a May 7 date in Allen County.
The attorneys expressed concerns with the timeline of the case. Gull scheduled jury selection for May 13 in Allen County, with the trial set to follow in Carroll County. As things currently stand, the trial would last through the end of May.
Baldwin and Rozzi argued the state could take up most of the two and a half weeks allotted for the trial to present its case, leaving them little time to present Allen’s defense. They’re concerned their client won’t get a fair trial, infringing on his Sixth Amendment rights.
The defense noted the state had 118 names on its witness list and 93 exhibits. The defense had 71 names on its witness list. Both sides would need considerable time to make their cases, Allen’s attorneys argued.
The trial poses additional logistical challenges, the defense said, including transportation to and from the courtroom of Allen for every day of the trial. Jurors, culled from Allen County, will be moved to Carroll County for the proceedings. Allen’s attorneys will be traveling from communities outside of Delphi.
“It seems natural that there will be additional challenges that cause delays in the trial thereby consuming even more of the time allotted for the presentation of evidence,” the attorneys argued in their motion.
Gull said the trial will go six days a week, from Monday to Saturday, with jurors and attorneys given Sunday off.
Tuesday’s hearing is set for 9 a.m.