The defense team for suspect Richard Allen say it’s time for all parties to get together and hash out some trial details.
In one of several motions filed Tuesday, attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi say they’re concerned Allen’s constitutional rights to a balanced trial are being infringed because of the current criminal trial schedule. As it stands now, opening statements will begin Friday, May 17th and the trial will continue to May 31st.
Proceedings will take place Monday through Saturday, approximately 9 a.m. to 5 or 6 o’clock in the evening each day.
Allen’s legal team say the State of Indiana plans to present around 118 witnesses and 93 exhibits. The defense has around 70 witnesses planned with more expected. The defense says two and a half weeks isn’t enough time for the defense or State to fully present their cases, and that the State could take up the entire two and a half weeks on their side alone.
Allen’s team also says they’ve reached out to Special Judge Fran Gull about these concerns, but their emails went unanswered from March 7th to April 25th. When Judge Gull did respond on Sunday, April 28th, she stated that she does not intend to allow “more or less” time for the trial, and that the two and a half week time period is similar to other cases she has handled in the past and expects this case to be no different.
Also included in the email is Judge Gull’s statement that seems to indicate she will not allow defense arguments about other potential suspects unless Baldwin and Rozzi can establish a clear link to the charges: “I am quite familiar with the law regarding third party perpetrators and unless the defense can provide a nexus between any alleged third-party perpetrators and the charged crimes those allegations are unsupported and will be inadmissible.”
That statement in Judge Gull’s email came just one day before Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland filed a motion to prevent Baldwin and Rozzi from presenting key parts of their case, including third party suspects, Odinism, testimony from former Rushville cop Todd Click, and much more.
Baldwin and Rozzi claim they have established clear links between other suspects and the murders, with reports from Click, a Purdue professor, and other witnesses.
You may recall Richard Allen was charged with the 2017 murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German largely due to an unspent bullet found near the scene. A few witnesses claim they saw a man on the Monon High Trail that looked like Allen.
Allen’s attorneys have long argued the bullet theory doesn’t work because the girls were killed by knife, and that an unspent bullet cannot be traced to Allen’s gun and is therefore “junk-science.” The defense team also claim cell phone geofencing/tracking data does not link back to Allen.
Richard Allen’s defense team also filed a motion Tuesday for another hearing to discuss additional evidence details recently handed over to the defense by the State. These details include cell phone data that Allen’s team says could help their case in proving Allen’s innocence and disproving previously stated facts about the timeline of the murders of Williams and German.
All of this is further clutter in the case, with more motions and hearing requests piled on top of others that have yet to be decided, even with the trial less than three weeks away.
Jury selection begins in Allen County on Monday, May 13th.
