Delphi Trial Preview Part 2: Courtroom Chaos

Source: Allen County Court / Screenshot of Allen County court hearing

DELPHI, Ind. — In September 2023, the attorneys representing Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen would drop a bombshell on the courtroom and the public. That bombshell of information would lead everyone on a complete, downward spiral into courtroom chaos.

Allen’s attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi would reveal last fall that they believe, through discovery handed over by the State of Indiana, that Abigail Williams and Liberty German were not the victims of a “normal” murder in February 2017. Instead, the attorneys presented a list of other men in the Delphi and greater Carroll County area whom they claim have ties to a ritualistic religious sect called Odinism.

Allen’s attorneys would argue men who practice Odinism in the Delphi area, at least one of which lied and then admitted to police that he knew one of the victims, killed the girls in a human sacrifice.

Baldwin and Rozzi would continue to claim over the course of 2023 and 2024 that Prosecutor McLeland consistently broke rules regarding the turning over of discovery evidence. When Allen’s attorneys finally received the discovery pulled together by the State of Indiana, that’s when the men say their version of events became clear.

Baldwin and Rozzi would claim Richard Allen was set-up as a fall guy, coerced into confessing to a crime he did not commit, and that the State itself had a documented history of investigating Odinism ties to the 2017 murders.

This would include interviewing several other men in February 2017, believed to be strong suspects at the time. The prosecution would later confirm several interviews from early in the investigation were lost.

An Odinism task force was created in 2018, comprising of three law enforcement specialists. One of those specialists, former Rushville police officer Todd Click, would go to Prosecutor McLeland and express concern that he felt the case against Allen was weak and that his task force had much stronger cases against other men, later named by the defense.

Police would re-interview some of these apparent Odinism-linked individuals in the summer of 2023, despite having Allen behind bars.

Richard Allen had to be moved out of one state prison for his own safety, and one of the contributing factors in that move were guards wearing Odinism patches and having Odinism tattoos.

While all of this was unfolding over the summer and fall of 2023, another incident took place.

A former associate of Allen’s attorneys apparently walked into their office, took pictures of legitimate Delphi crime scene evidence, and spread those pictures to content creators and others online. One man was said to be so scared that police would arrest him after receiving those photos that he took his own life.

That entire situation led to October 2023.

Special Judge Fran Gull would surprise Allen’s attorneys by informing them that they would either step down or be disqualified before the public and media. This was the only court hearing Gull ever allowed to be broadcast – another criticism of public access to the case.

Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi would be disqualified from the case as Judge Gull saw the pair as “grossly negligent and incompetent.”

That disqualification wouldn’t last long.

Allen’s new attorneys appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court, who sided with the defense, stating Judge Gull did not take the appropriate path in disqualifying the attorneys and that they should be reinstated.

Attorneys Baldwin and Rozzi were back, but that wasn’t the end of their growing feud with Judge Gull.

They tried to have Gull removed twice, which failed. They were also battling Prosecutor McLeland, who was reading private defense Ex Parte motions when he shouldn’t have. The legal back and forth continued with piles of court motions from all sides, and the trial was delayed several times.

Prosecutor McLeland successfully convinced Judge Gull to allow Allen’s apparent “confessions” into the trial while not allowing the defense’s strategies pertaining to Odinism, third-party suspects, geofencing/tracking data, and more into trial.

Motions continue to be filed up until jury selection, which began Monday. The trial seems all but guaranteed to take place this Friday, October 18th. However, you will not have the amount of access to those court proceedings that you may feel is necessary.

Delphi Part III: Transparency and The Jury coming Wednesday, October 16th.