An Indiana judge overseeing the highly-anticipated Delphi murders trial has refused to step down and blasted Richard Allen’s defense team for their allegations of her impropriety.
Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull denied their motion to disqualify her as the judge on the case and then proceeded to address each of the allegations of bias.
It’s the latest hiccup in the case against the man accused in the 2017 murders of Abby Williams, 13, and 14-year-old Libby German, whose bodies were found a day after they had gone for a walk on abandoned train tracks in Delphi, Indiana.
Allen was charged with their murders in October 2022, and a trial was set for May 2024, but a series of delays and roadblocks have pushed the trial until October.
The defense had accused Judge Gull of violating rules by previously setting an end date for the trial, as well as treating their motions differently than those filed by the State.
“The Court has set hearings on pending Motions which have now been continued due to the filing of this Motion to Disqualify,” Gull wrote in her ruling. “When defendant files pleadings, the State is entitled to file a response. The Court follows Trial Rule 6 regarding time and gives the State twenty (20) days to respond. Defendant is also given twenty (20) days to reply to the State’s responses. Once the issues are closed, if a hearing is required, one will be set.”
The defense also claimed the judge showed bias by not allowing equal time for them to present their case and rebuttal.
“The Court is not required to guarantee equal time for both the defendant and the State,” Gull wrote in response.
“The Court is required to guarantee sufficient time on the calendar and sufficient notice to jurors and the parties to present their case, however long it takes. Had Counsel notified the Court within days of receiving the March 7, 2024, Court Order setting the case for speedy trial May 13-31, 2024, that the time allotted on the calendar was insufficient, the Court would have immediately rectified the situation and extended the trial to May 13-June 14, 2024.”
Allen’s defense team also claims that Gull only ruled on cameras in the courtroom on a day she had planned to admonish them in front of their client and the public.
She said the media outlet providing pool coverage did not comply with the “Court’s directives regarding coverage and broadcasting of the proceedings.”
“The Court has not allowed cameras in the Carroll Circuit Court due to its limited size and layout … The Court lost confidence in the ability of the media to cover hearings appropriately,” Gull wrote.
“The Court has issued adverse rulings against the defendant, as well as against the State of Indiana. Adverse rulings do not support a reasonable basis for questioning the Court’s impartiality, nor are they grounds for disqualification, they are just adverse rulings.”
In court documents released last year, Allen maintained his innocence of the 2017 killings and instead claimed that the murders were carried out by a pagan cult hijacked by white nationalists.
His attorneys have previously claimed that details from the crime scene pointed to a possible “Odinist” religious cult killing, with symbols painted in blood of one victim discovered, according to court filings obtained by The Independent last year.
But the prosecution wants to throw out the claims that an “Odinist pagan cult” was behind the girls’ deaths.
A trial was set for May 2024, but Brad Rozzi, one of Allen’s attorneys, said it was not practical for the trial to take place during the dates in May, and said no end date should be set in the trial.
“If you can’t try this case in one month, there’s something wrong,” Judge Gull told Allen’s defense team during a hearing two weeks before the trial was supposed to take place.
Rozzi replied: “You don’t know anything about this case.”
The judge decided that the trial should take place from October 14 until November 15.
Both sides said they were satisfied with the new trial date.
