Source: Allen County Court / Screenshot of Allen County court hearing
DELPHI, Ind. — The defense team in the Delphi murders case has been trying several ways to get Judge Fran Gull to remove herself from the case.
They feel she has been favoring the prosecution as the proceedings have inched closer to a trial set to happen in October. Richard Allen’s lawyers Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi have now filed a 21-page “notice of conflict”, stating that they intend to call Judge Gull as a defense witness once the trial begins.
Allen is accused of murdering Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi back in 2017.
The court filing states that Gull’s testimony will be important in their defense as to show that law enforcement has acted in bad faith, and in doing so has violated Allen’s constitutional rights.
They claim Gull had knowledge of “fabricated facts” submitted by the sheriff’s department, which they say have undermined the credibility of the investigation by law enforcement. They say this has also led to a loss of credibility in her ability to run the case on an impartial basis as the case’s primary fact-finder.
It’s also the judge’s job in every case to judge the credibility of every witness brought to testify in a case. Baldwin and Rozzi say Judge Gull cannot practically judge her own credibility to testify if called to the stand and thus this creates a conflict of interest.
The filing once again lists several ways the defense believes Gull has been biased against them. That list includes the judge “failing to admonish the sheriff’s office for allegedly fabricating facts.” It also says Gull “shows favoritism to the prosecution, evidenced by her dramatically different responses to the state’s and defense’s requests for a brief recess during prior court hearings.”
Finally, they admonished Gull for not allowing TV cameras in the courtroom for the October trial. Gull said she decided not to allow cameras in court because she does not feel the media will accurately cover the trial. They are also calling on Gull to allow Allen to be moved out of prison and be held in the Carroll County Jail.
