The Delphi murder trial has been delayed by ten months after the suspect’s defense team withdrew from the case due to ‘gross negligence’ over gruesome crime scene pictures being leaked to the public.
Former defense attorney’s Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi, who represented accused murdered Richard Allen, were ordered by Special Judge Fran Gull of Allen County to ‘cease work ‘ on Allen’s case earlier this month.
The judge told the court that Baldwin and Rozzi were removed from the case related to the leak of evidence.
Rozzi denied the claim in a filing on Thursday and said they withdrew to not hurt their client. Baldwin told the court that Allen wanted them to continue representing him, 21AliveNews reported.
On Friday, defense attorneys William Lebrato and Richard Sremin became the newly appointed attorney’s on Allen’s case. They told the judge they had not received discovery, and said it would be impossible to review all the evidence in time for the January 2024 trial.
On Tuesday, the new attorney’s filed a motion and Judge Gull approved the delay. The new date of the high profile murder case is set for October 15-31, 2024.
Accused Delphi murderer Richard Allen, 50, is accused of killingAbby Williams, 13 and Libby German, 14 while they were hiking through Indiana’s Delphi’s Historic Trails in February 2017
The two young girls went missing February 13, 2017 after hiking through Indiana’s Delphi Historic Trails. Their bodies were found the next day in a heavily wooded area near the trail by the Monon High Bridge
During Tuesday’s hearing that was held at Carroll County Courthouse, a handcuffed Allen was brought into the courtroom, and sat next to his former defense attorneys, Baldwin and Rozzi, as his newly appointed defense attorneys, sat nearby.
Before Judge Gull addressed Baldwin and Rozzi, new attorney Lebrato shared his motions requesting a jury trial, and prosecutor Nicholas McLeland agreed.
In a Thursday filing, Rozzi claimed that the judge ordered him and attorney Andrew Baldwin to ‘cease work on Mr. Allen’s case’ on October 12 until they were set to appear in court on October 19.
During the October 19 hearing, Judge Gull said Baldwin had withdrawn from the case and said she expected Rozzi to do the same. Rozzi requested that Special Judge Gull remove from herself from the case, according to 21AliveNews
Prosecutor McLeland said he was ‘at a loss,’ when he was asked by the judge for his response. He shared with the court that he was concerned about Allen getting a fair trial.
He said Baldwin and Rozzi not only made negligent statements but they ‘told lies,’ according to the news outlet.
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McLeland told the court that the two attorneys were trying to have ‘the trial in the public eye.’
During the hearing, Judge Gull turned to the accused telling Allen, ‘I cannot and will not allow these attorneys to represent you.’
She disqualified Baldwin and Rozzi from representing him, even pro bono, and then ordered both lawyers to hand over the discovery to the the newly appointed defense team by the end of the week.
Baldwin’s attorney, David Hennessy, spoke to the judge about the disqualification.
He denied the ‘gross negligence’ and said they were not prepared for the ruling on October 19 having the team withdraw.
Hennessy went on to say that the ‘summary judgment was unconstitutional.’
The trail in Delphi, Indiana, where Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, were killed on Feb. 13, 2017
Unsealed legal documents sensationally claim that the two teenagers were killed by members of a pagan Norse religion and white nationalist group called ‘Odinism’
Fourteen-year-old Liberty ‘Libby’ German and her friend Abigal ‘Abby’ Williams, 13, went missing on February 13, 2017 while the pair were hiking through Indiana’s Delphi Historic Trails.
Their bodies were found the next day in a heavily wooded area near the trail by the Monon High Bridge.
Allen was arrested on October 28, 2022 on two charges of murder, five years after the heinous killings of the two young girls.
In September, Allen’s defense team alleged that the girls killing were carried out by a members of a pagan cult dedicated to Odin, a war god in Norse mythology, and that Allen was framed by law enforcement as the main suspect in the murders.
Allen’s new defense attorneys have asked the Indiana State Supreme Court to reinstate important documents from the original defense team that the judge ordered to be removed from the record, the news outlet reported.
The court stated that November 9 is the deadline for materials to be submitted, WSBT reported.
