The Delphi murder trial has been postponed for 10 months after the suspect’s defense team withdrew from the case due to “gross negligence” over the leaking of gruesome crime scene photos to the public.
Former attorney Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi, who represented the suspect in Richard Allen’s murder, were ordered earlier this month by Allen County Special Judge Fran Gull to “cease work on Allen’s case.”
The judge told the court that Baldwin and Rozzi had been removed from the case due to the evidence leak.
Rozzi denied the claim in a filing Thursday, saying they withdrew so as not to hurt their client. Baldwin told the court that Allen wanted them to continue representing him. 21LevendNieuws reported.
On Friday, attorneys William Lebrato and Richard Sremin became the newly appointed attorneys in Allen’s case. They told the judge they had not received any discovery and said it would be impossible to review all the evidence in time for the January 2024 trial.
On Tuesday, the new lawyer filed a request and the judge approved the postponement. The new date for the high-profile murder trial has been set for October 15-31, 2024.
Delphi killer Richard Allen, 50, is accused of killing Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14. The pair went missing after hiking through Delphi’s Historic Trails in Indiana in February 2017.
The two young girls went missing in February 2017 after hiking the Delphi Historic Trails in Indiana. Their bodies were found the next day in a heavily wooded area near the trail at the Monon High Bridge
During Tuesday’s hearing at the Carroll County Courthouse, a handcuffed Allen was brought into the courtroom. He sat next to his former attorneys, Baldwin and Rozzi, as his newly appointed attorneys, nearby.
Before Judge Gull addressed Baldwin and Rozzi, new attorney Lebrato shared his motions asking for a jury trial, and prosecutor Nicholas McLeland agreed.
Rozzi claimed in a filing Thursday that the judge ordered him and attorney Andrew Baldwin to “cease work on Mr. Allen’s case” on Oct. 12 until they appear in court on Oct. 19.
During the Oct. 19 hearing, Judge Gull said Baldwin had withdrawn from the case and expected Rozzi to do the same. According to the news channel, Rozzi has specially requested Judge Gull to remove himself from the case.
Prosecutor McLeland said he “ata loss’, when asked by the judge for his response. He shared with the court that he was concerned that Allen would receive a fair trial.
According to the news station, McLeland alleged that Baldwin and Rozzi not only made negligent statements, but also “told lies.”
McLeland told the court that the two lawyers were trying to “bring the trial to the attention of the public.”
During the hearing, Judge Gull turned to the defendant and told Allen, “I cannot and will not allow these attorneys to represent you.”
She disqualified Baldwin and Rozzi from representing Allen, even pro bono. She also instructed both attorneys to turn over discovery to the newly appointed defense team by the end of the week.
Baldwin’s attorney, David Hennessy, spoke to the judge about the disqualification.
Hennessy denied “gross negligence” and said they were unprepared for the Oct. 19 ruling that saw the team withdraw.
He further stated that the “summary judgment was unconstitutional.”
The trail in Delphi, Indiana, where Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, were murdered on February 13, 2017
Unsealed legal documents sensationally claim the two teens were murdered by members of a pagan Norse religion and white nationalist group called ‘Odinism’
Fourteen-year-old Liberty “Libby” German and her friend Abigal “Abby” Williams, 13, went missing on February 13, 2017, while the pair were hiking the Delphi Historic Trails in Indiana.
Their bodies were found the next day in a heavily wooded area near the trail at the Monon High Bridge.
Allen was arrested on two murder charges on October 28, 2022, five years after the gruesome murder of the two young girls.
In September, Allen’s defense team claimed that the girls’ murders were committed by members of a pagan cult devoted to Odin, a war god in Norse mythology, and that Allen was accused by police of being the prime suspect in the murders.
Allen’s new attorneys have asked the Indiana Supreme Court to restore key documents from the original defense team that the judge ruled should be expunged from the file, the news outlet reported.
The court stated that November 9 is the deadline for submitting materials. WSBT reported.