DELPHI — A week after the defense team for accused Delphi murder suspect Richard Allen requested that cameras be allowed in the courtroom, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland objected, saying that cameras would create a “circus atmosphere.”
“Defense counsel continues to use inflammatory language in pleadings, including statements that are simply not true,” McLeland wrote in a court document filed Monday through the Carroll County Circuit Court.
“There is no reason to think they will not continue to use supercilious language in court, designed as soundbites for recording on the national stage.”
The prosecution also argued that adding cameras to the courtroom might hinder the “dignity of the trial.”
“The defense has already expressed its intent to attack not only the evidence, but the credibility of those who investigated the case,” McLeland wrote in part, “which will allow the defense team to grandstand on camera about the imagined bad motives of the state actors.”
It was Feb. 14, 2017, when the bodies of Abby Williams and Libby German were located along the banks of Deer Creek near the Monon High Bridge area after the girls had been dropped off the day before but had not returned to their pick-up location.
Last week, the defense team for Allen filed a motion claiming in part that 14-year-old German and 13-year-old Williams were “ritualistically sacrificed” by members of a pagan Norse religion and white nationalist-linked group referred to as “Odinists.”
McLeland’s arguments against cameras in the courtroom is a stark contrast to the assertions of defense attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi.
“Courts should make court processes as transparent as possible so the average person can witness the judicial system in action,” Rozzi argued in a Sept. 14 filing by the defense. “A highly effective way to do this is to proactively take steps to disseminate information in high profile/high stakes cases.”
Back in May, a law took effect in Indiana allowing cameras inside courtrooms. However, the presiding judge has to authorize that decision.
MOTION TO SUPPRESS
The prosecution filed another objection this week to the defense’s recent motion to suppress evidence that was found during an October 2022 warranted search of Allen’s Carroll County property. The prosecution called the defense’s motion “colorful, dramatic and highly unprofessional.”
McLeland then detailed factual evidence, such as Allen admitting to being on the bridge the day the girls went missing.
“Investigators learned from those interviews that Richard Allen reaffirmed that he was in fact on the trails the day that Abigail Williams and Libby German went missing and further admitted to being on the high bridge,” McLeland argued.
“… He also told investigators that he was wearing blue jeans and a blue or black Carhartt jacket with a hood and that he was wearing a head covering.
“Further, Richard stated that he did own guns and that the guns were in his home,” the prosecution added. “Investigators learned … Richard Allen still had guns and knives in the home, along with a blue Carhartt jacket.”
McLeland also noted in his objection that those items — along with a .40 caliber firearm the prosecution believes was the gun that had held an unspent bullet found between the girls’ bodies — were all legally seized during the search of Allen’s property.
“Investigators believed, at that time, that they had enough probable cause to apply for a search warrant,” McLeland wrote. “Investigators also believed that if they did not execute a search warrant on the residence immediately, that there was a danger that the defendant would destroy crucial evidence in the investigation.”
A hearing for Judge Frances Gull to rule on the defense’s motions has not yet been set.