Richard Allen found guilty in Delphi Murders case – Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather | Indiana Traffic

DELPHI, Ind. (WISH) — Delphi Murders suspect Richard Allen was convicted Friday after 20 days in one of the highest-profile cases in Indiana history.

A sentencing date should be set within a few days.

The conclusion followed an investigation that involved local, state and federal law enforcement and lasted more than five years before his arrest. The case lasted two years and decisions in the case came from higher authorities such as the Indiana Supreme Court.

The 52-year-old former pharmacy technician from Delphi had been charged with two counts of murder and two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping in the deaths of 13-year-olds Abigail “Abby” Williams and Liberty “Libby” German. , 14. The girls’ bodies were found near the Monon High Bridge and trail near Delphi on February 14, 2017, a day after they disappeared while hiking.

The girls’ throats were cut. The coroner who performed the autopsy said the cuts may have been made with a box cutter.

Police said Allen was first investigated shortly after the girls’ bodies were found in 2017. However, Allen was not charged until October 28, 2022.

Jurors learned during the trial that a tip given to authorities in 2017 was misfiled only to be discovered when the tips were digitized. When this tip was found, it led police to talk to Allen again and to his arrest about a month later.

Delphi is a city of approximately 3,000 people in Carroll County. The district has a population of 20,500. Local authorities face unprecedented expenses in a top-tier felony case, a rarity in the small Indiana county.

Allen’s case wound up in the courts two years before trial after he was charged. Due to conflicts in Carroll County, the case was transferred to an out-of-state arbitrator named Judge Frances Gull of Allen County. He thought the pretrial publicity was strong enough to bring a jury of Allen County residents to the Carroll County Courthouse for Allen’s trial.

Gull at one point dismissed Allen’s defense attorneys for their conduct, but had the Indiana Supreme Court reinstate them in January. In its formal opinion a month later, the Indiana Supreme Court said it ruled that removing Allen’s defense attorneys was not a “necessary last resort.” Decision sets new standard for removing defense lawyers from cases.

Defense attorneys had also asked for Gull to resign as special judge of the case. The Indiana Supreme Court denied that request in July.

The hearing also challenged journalists.

Gull met with the media at the Carroll County Courthouse in October before the trial began. He allowed photographs of the empty courtroom to be taken, which News 8 published. It also provided guidelines for media coverage.

Much interest in the Delphi Murders has come from media personalities with murder podcasts and video platforms. As the case went to trial, the judge’s distrust of the media grew, leading him to refuse to allow cameras or any electronic devices into the courtroom during the hearing. This decision meant that a pool reporter’s written notes would be shared with other reporters after the court session ended. The judge also rejected the request to release audio recordings of the sessions.

Indiana becomes one of the last states to allow cameras in courtrooms, with the chief justice’s permission, starting May 1, 2023. Gull was part of a pilot program for cameras in courtrooms before the Indiana Supreme Court adopted the change.

At the beginning of the trial, the judge confiscated the cameras of three traditional media reporters, claiming they were taking photographs of jurors entering the courtroom from a van outside the courthouse. Judge decided to delete photos of jurors.

The small size of the courtroom also limited public in-person viewing of the trial by all parties involved in the case.

During closing arguments on Thursday, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland told jurors they should convict Allen because an unfired cartridge found at the scene of the crime had tool marks that matched bullets from a Sig Sauer gun found at Allen’s home in 2022. the metals inside the firearm coming into contact with the softer metals that make up the cartridge.

McLeland also told jurors that clothing found at Allen’s home in 2022 was similar to the person seen in the video Libby took on the trail on Feb. 13, 2024. The cellphone video showed a blurry image of a man walking on the road. ; He became known as the “bridge man” during the trial. The entire video was played publicly with enhanced sound for the first time during the trial and audio first shared by researchers in the second half of February 2017 Image of a person saying “down the hill.”

Finally, the district attorney recorded confessions Allen made while in state prison. Allen was transferred to the Indiana Department of Corrections’ Westville Correctional Facility after the Carroll County sheriff said the jail could not safely secure Allen. In Indiana, it is highly unusual for a person facing criminal charges in district court to be placed in state prison while awaiting the outcome of the case.

Defense attorneys said in closing arguments that Allen’s confessions were false and were given under duress while Allen was suffering from mental health issues while awaiting trial in state prison. Mental health experts had testified that Allen’s mental health had deteriorated while in state prison, and the jury also saw sensational videos and photos showing the conditions Allen endured. Defense attorneys said Allen’s conviction would “validate this behavior.”

Defense attorneys also pointed out the broken timeline in the state’s investigation; these included the failure of ballistics examinations and the lack of DNA or digital forensics at the crime scene to link Allen to the murders. Additionally, investigators were unable to test for tool marks on the gun of another person seen in the area around the time of the girls’ disappearance.

What jurors didn’t hear were theories that the girls’ murders might have been related to Odinism, an ancient Norse religion said to have inspired white supremacists. However, the judge refused to allow any testimony regarding these theories during the trial.

Allen’s trial and public defense cost the county government more than $4.3 million.