Trial for man charged in 2 girls' slayings in Delphi, Indiana, pushed back to October 2024
CHICAGO (CBS/AP) -- The trial for the man accused of killing two girls in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017 has been pushed back to October 2024, after a judge announced earlier this month that his defense team had withdrawn from the case.
Richard Allen's trial originally had been set for January 2024, but at a hearing on Oct. 19, Judge Fran Gull announced defense attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi were withdrawing from the case.
CBS 4 Indy reports, Allen's new attorneys filed a motion to delay the trial, arguing it would be impossible to meet that January date, Allen's trial was pushed back until Oct. 15, 2024.
Allen is charged with two counts of murder in the slayings of 14-year-old Liberty German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams.
Attorneys dispute withdrawing from case
In a filing after Gull announced Rozzi and Baldwin were withdrawing from the case, Rozzi disputed having stepped down, according to CBS 4 Indy, setting off another legal back-and-forth that called for Gull's removal. Eventually, Allen filed a brief asking the Indiana Supreme Court to review Gull's handling of the case. The state's highest court set a Nov. 9 deadline for materials to be submitted in that matter.
Baldwin and Rozzi were included among Allen's representation Tuesday, with court records indicating their status as "pro bono" in the case. Gull, however, reiterated Tuesday morning that both attorneys were officially off the case.
Search warrant dispute
In a separate issue, Allen's original defense attorneys had sought to have key evidence withheld from the trial. Defense attorneys have argued the search warrant for Allen's house was based on faulty probable cause and should be suppressed.
Liberty and Abigail were found stabbed to death on a hiking trail near an abandoned railroad bridge in February 2017.
Allen was arrested last October. Prosecutors have said Allen confessed in prison phone calls to his wife.
His attorneys have blamed four other people for the murders.
Defense pinned blame on 'Odinism'
In court filings last month, Allen's defense attorneys accused investigators of ignoring critical evidence from the scene – linking the killings to a group called "Odinism."
"Members of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German," the attorneys state said in the filing.
"(N)othing, absolutely nothing, links Richard Allen to Odinism or any religious cult," they wrote.
The attorneys claim that two groups of Odinists, one from the Delphi area and one from the Rushville area in southeastern Indiana, were investigated for their involvement in the crimes. They say investigators found multiple ritualistic symbols at the crime scene, including how Liberty's body was positioned.
The defense filing claims possible "Odinism signatures," including ritualistic symbols, were left at the crime scene, but investigators abandoned that angle.
Allen's attorneys also named several potential suspects who have not been charged in the case.
Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland called the theory a "fanciful defense for social media to devour" in response to the defense filing.
