Richard Allen Challenges 130-Year Sentence

DELPHI, Ind — Richard Allen’s attorneys have filed an appeal with the Indiana Court of Appeals, hoping to overturn his 130‑year prison sentence in the Delphi murder case.

Allen was convicted in November 2024 of killing teenagers Libby German and Abby Williams. In their 113‑page brief, his lawyers argue the search of Allen’s home was unconstitutional, his prison confessions should not have been admitted, and that the judge wrongly blocked their alternate theory that the girls were killed in a ritual tied to Odinism.

Those arguments had already been rejected during trial. Judge Fran Gull ruled the search was valid, the confessions admissible, and the Odinism theory irrelevant. Allen’s attorneys later submitted more than 1,200 pages of material tied to early police investigations, claiming officers overlooked other leads and focused too heavily on Allen years after the crime.

The Court of Appeals will now review the case. But reversals are rare, and fewer than five percent of convictions are overturned on direct appeal.

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