By: James Howell Jr.
CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. (WRTV) — On Friday, the man charged with murder stemming from the deaths of Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi will return to court.
Special judge Fran Gull will oversee several topics during the hearing Friday morning.
Richard Allen is expected to be present in court as topics including the gag order, a discovery request (witness information), funding and the potential for a venue change are discussed.
On October 31, Richard Allen was arrested and charged with murder for the deaths of Williams and German.
After originally being sealed, documents that detailed Allen’s connection to their deaths were released on November 29.
We learned in those documents that Allen was tied to the crime through a single bullet found at the crime scene.
We also learned then that the Carroll County Prosecutor believes there may be more people involved.
On December 2, Gull issued a preliminary gag order in the case which stopped families, attorneys and anyone else with knowledge of the case from talking about the case publicly.
This image provided by Indiana State Police shows Richard Matthew Allen. Indiana authorities have arrested the man in the unsolved slayings of two teenage girls who were killed while hiking five years ago near their small community in northern Indiana hometown, police said Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. State Police Superintendent Doug Carter announced that Allen, 50, was arrested Friday on two murder counts in the killings of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, in a case that has haunted the Indiana city of about 3,000 people. (Indiana State Police via AP)
At Friday’s hearing, Gull is expected to rule on whether the gag order will remain in place moving forward.
She will also weigh requests from the defense for funding, which was made in early December, and a change of venue request from the defense that was filed in November.
Attorneys Bradley Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin filed the motion which states in part that a large percentage of Delphi and/or Carroll County residents may have actively participated in the search for Abby and Libby and therefore “may have information concerning the layout of the area searched that could infect the jury, and have opinions based upon their involvement in the search for the victims.”
It continues to claim that residents from counties further away likely were not as invested and would therefore have a greater chance of remaining impartial.
They request the venue be moved at least 150 miles away.
The defense filed a Motion for Discovery in late December that request the names and addresses of all involved witnesses which will also be discussed on Friday.
WRTV will be in the courtroom on Friday, but due to an order from the special judge, we will be unable to provide video, photo or audio from the hearing.
This story was originally published Jan. 12 by WRTV in Indianapolis, an E.W. Scripps Company.
