A legal sh*tshow - The Delphi Murders case

[Muda69]

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/investigations/2023/12/06/delphi-murders-richard-allen-abigail-williams-liberty-german-suicide-leak/71609989007/

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The murders of Delphi teens Abigail "Abby" Williams and Liberty "Libby" German shook the small Indiana town in 2017 and, as the killings went unsolved for five years, interest in the case spread around the world.

Images of the Monon High Bridge, the Carroll County landmark where the two girls were last seen alive on Feb. 13, 2017, became iconic reminders of an unforgettable and deeply disturbing crime as the community searched for answers to the questions: Who killed the Abby and Libby? And why?

As the investigation lingered, the plight of the girls — and pain and suspicion eating at the close-knit community — resonated far beyond central Indiana. The international media picked up on the story, and the case became a popular topic for true crime podcasts, documentaries and social media speculation, with conspiracy theories and vitriolic hate overtaking sympathy and local concerns.

The attention surrounding the deaths was recently goosed by a bizarre series of events in the criminal case against Richard Allen, the unassuming local pharmacy employee arrested last year for the killings. The legal wrangling has spawned a circus-like atmosphere now threatening to overshadow the memories of the two slain teens and derail Allen's right to a fair trial.

The donnybrook erupted after Allen's court-appointed defense attorneys claimed in September that members of a pagan religion sacrificed the girls during a bloody ritual in the woods ― and police failed to investigate the real killers.

Then, just months before the criminal cases was set to go to trial, a leak of graphic crime scene photos threatened to upend the already high-stakes case. The leak set off a new whirlwind of activity.

A man identified in court documents as being tied to the leak killed himself during the ensuing investigation. The presiding judge removed Allen's defense attorneys, capping off a chaotic October. Then another man was charged in November for his role in the leak.

Now, the case has devolved into a messy legal fight in the state's highest court over Allen's request to reinstate his attorneys ― and calls to remove the judge from the case.

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Mr. Allen will now have wait at least 2 years, in prison, before he actually gets a chance to try and prove his innocence.   A travesty.

[Impartial_Observer]

This has been botched from day one. These families have been thru hell and those two young ladies demand justice. All starts with Doug Carter and it filters thru the entire system. 

[Muda69]

It just keeps getting better:  https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2024/06/18/delphi-murder-suspects-attorneys-say-judge-is-now-a-witness/74142209007/

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DELPHI, Ind. — The thinly veiled discontent between Delphi murder suspect Richard Allen's attorneys, the judge and Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland is summarized in a Tuesday filing.

Allen's attorneys say they plan to call Judge Frances Gull to testify to the truthfulness of a Carroll County Sheriff's Office report. Chief Deputy Tobe Leazenby allegedly told a deputy in March 2023 that Gull gave permission to ignore Allen's subpoena for an inmate to be brought to court to testify about Allen's abusive treatment in prison.

But in Gull's May 31 order, she wrote, "The decision by the deputy to leave without the witness was his and was not directed by the court."

"Despite having the (Carroll County Sheriff's Office) report since June 20, 2023," Tuesday's motion states, "to this day, Judge Gull has failed to admonish the (sheriff's office) for filing a report that contains such a flagrant falsehood and which is arguably an attempt to cover up their illegal actions in ignoring a valid defense subpoena."

The motion states Gull's statement in her May 31 order makes her a witness for the defense in its allegations that law enforcement has not been truthful in its murder case against Allen, who is accused of killing Delphi teenagers Libby German and Abby Williams on Feb. 13, 2017.

 

"Judge Gull should recuse herself from this matter as she is now a witness in the proceedings," Allen's attorneys wrote in their motion filed Tuesday.

The motion indicates the defense plans to call Gull as a witness at a future hearing or trial.

The motion also addresses McLeland's reading of defense attorneys' ex parte filings, which are supposed to be sealed from prosecutors' view.

Gull accused the defense of incorrectly filing the ex parte motions, but Allen's attorneys filed an exhibit that suggests the procedure they used is correct, but court staff incorrectly gave McLeland access to the confidential filing.

"This court has failed to reprimand the prosecution for reading ex parte documents or to even address that issue in any way whatsoever," the motion states.

In parodying Gull's ruling on whether Allen's attorneys were in contempt of court, Tuesday's motion states, "Nor has Judge Gull filed a pleading in which she (Judge Gull) publicly proclaimed that she is referring Nick McLeland to the 'office of judicial and attorney regulation, executive director Adrienne Meiring for that office to enforce the rules or determine counsel's ethical misconduct.' "

 

In its closing paragraphs, the motion notes that the public's perception is that Gull is biased against Allen and his defense team, which should suffice to persuade Gull she needs to recuse herself.

The motion states its purpose is to preserve the record and respond to Gull's May 31 order.

"The defense wishes to move forward and have this court conduct a hearing, most immediately the request to have Richard Allen moved from the (Department of Corrections) to either Cass or Tippecanoe County jails while awaiting trial," the motion concludes.

The legal trick box is that earlier in the motion — and presumably in any future hearing to consider Allen's transfer to a jail instead of a prison — Allen's attorneys will call Gull as a witness.