Attorneys Seek New Judge In Delphi Murder Case, Citing Bias Against Defense

Concerned attorneys unaffiliated with a case involving the murder of two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana, have petitioned the Indiana Supreme Court to replace the special judge assigned to the case.

Attorneys Mark Leeman and Cara Wieneke filed a Writ of Mandus arguing that the man suspected of killing the two teens, Richard Allen, has had his rights violated by Special Judge Fran Gull, Fox 59 reported. In particular, the two point to Allen’s right to a speedy trial and Gull’s alleged bias against the defense.

Allen, 51, is accused of murdering 13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German in a case that has attracted national attention. Allen’s original court-assigned attorneys, Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi, were removed from the case in late October – the circumstances of which form part of the basis for Leeman and Wieneke’s filing.

Baldwin and Rozzi allege that during a closed-door meeting with Gull, the judge threatened to harm the attorney’s reputation by accusing them of “gross negligence” in open court unless they withdrew from the case. The attorneys withdrew, but filed a petition to represent Allen pro bono. Judge Gull then barred them from representing Allen in any capacity.

Attorneys Leeman and Weineke asked the Supreme Court to install a new judge and release the transcripts of the meeting where Gull allegedly threatened Baldwin and Rozzi. In addition, Leeman and Weineke argued that replacing the original attorneys violated Allen’s constitutional right to a speedy trial, as the trial was initially set to begin in January 2024 but now won’t start until mid-October 2024.

Baldwin and Rozzi had already filed a brief with the Indiana Supreme Court to investigate Judge Gull’s handling of the case. Over the weekend, the judge asked the state’s highest court to give her more time to respond to the filing.

For his part, Allen wrote in a letter that he wanted Baldwin and Rozzi to represent him.

“I want Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Rozzi to continue to represent me until this case is resolved, one way or the other. I believe they are acting in a manner that is in my best interest,” he wrote in his letter to Gull.

Allen, a CVS worker and father, is accused of forcing Abby and Libby off of a trail they were hiking and into a wooded area, where he allegedly killed them both.

The defense team, however, said the girls were killed by “[m]embers of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists.”

“Richard Allen has zero connections to any pagan cult or pagan cultists, and furthermore no forensic evidence (such as DNA) or electronic evidence links Richard Allen to the girls or to the crime scene – i.e., he is a completely innocent man,” they wrote.

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The attorneys said in the filing that two groups of Odinists, one from Delphi and the other from Rushville, Indiana, were investigated for their possible involvement in the murders. As evidence the girls were murdered as part of a ritual sacrifice, the attorneys point to ritualistic symbols allegedly found at the crime scene, which include the strange way young Libby’s body was positioned.

A March 2017 search warrant request from the FBI noted that the girls’ bodies looked as though they had been “moved and staged.”

The filing also notes that investigators didn’t further investigate the alleged ritualistic symbols left at the crime scene, which included sticks and tree branches placed on the girls’ bodies that mimicked certain Norse runes. At least one branch appeared to have been cut with an electronic device, suggesting premeditation, the defense argues. Libby’s blood was also used to paint a rune on a tree that was identified as a calling card of the pagan religious cult, they added.

Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland dismissed the theory as a “fanciful defense for social media to devour.”