Delphi Murder Jurors Should Not Visit Crime Scenes

DELPHI, Ind. — Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland doesn’t want jurors in the trial of Delphi murder suspect Richard Allen to see the crime scenes.

McLeland charged Allen in October 2022 with the murder of teenagers Libby German and Abby Williams on February 13, 2017.

Last week, Allen’s attorneys asked jurors to tour scenes related to the final hours of Libby and Abby’s lives, as well as the former Child Protective Services building where prosecutors say Allen parked his car before the murders.

In an objection to Allen’s attorneys’ request that jurors see the Monon High Bridge, the site where the girls were found about a quarter-mile from the bridge, and the former CPS building, McLeland filed a brief Friday.

“The terrain where the bodies were found is very difficult to cross and would be dangerous for the jury to access,” McLeland said in the brief asking Special Judge Frances Gull to deny Allen’s request. “Going to the (site) where the bodies were found and to the opposite end of the Monon High Bridge would involve trespassing on the property of two private property owners.

“It would take a lot of time and resources to take the jury to these areas while ensuring they are safe from the public and outside influences.

“The areas where the bodies were found as well as the site of the former CPS building are significantly different from when the crimes were committed.”

McLeland noted that prosecutors will present evidence, including maps and drone footage, of the areas to show jurors.

“(A)ll the benefits of the jury visiting these areas are outweighed by the dangers that such travel presents to the jury and to the fairness of the trial,” McLeland wrote. “(T)he State does not believe it is appropriate for the jury to visit the scene or other areas.”

Gull issued an order Thursday saying she will not make a decision on the defense request pending the state’s response, which was filed Friday afternoon and posted online Monday. As of Monday afternoon, Gull had not released a decision.

Last week, Allen’s lawyers also filed a motion asking the court to force law enforcement officers to answer questions they refused to answer during their depositions, based on advice from the attorney for the Indiana Department of Corrections and McLeland.

Allen’s motion seemed to imply that some of their questions about the prosecutor’s timeline of events could be challenged if the questions were answered.

“(The State considers that the information that the Defense requests the Court to compel is privileged information because it is the product of work or concerns communications between the State and one of their witnesses, or even they are not relevant to the guilt or innocence of Richard Allen,” McLeland wrote in the prosecutor’s response.

McLeland’s response filed Friday and posted online Monday says the warden and Department of Corrections director who declined to answer questions did so under the Department of Corrections’ attorney-client privilege, which McLeland said makes this confidential information.

As for Indiana State Police Lt. Jerry Holeman and DA’s Office investigator Steve Mullin being forced to answer questions, McLeland also objected to Allen’s request.

The questions to Holeman about when prosecutors hired a blood spatter expert are a matter of state trial strategy and are the result of work, meaning the defense doesn’t have the right to know the information. Furthermore, it is the prosecutor, not Holeman, who is able to answer this question.

Allen’s attorneys questioned Holeman during his deposition about what he and Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett talked about before Holeman’s deposition. But McLeland was present during those conversations, and that was part of the trial strategy. Therefore, he contends that this was not discovered in the depositions.

Finally, Allen’s lawyers peppered Mullin with questions about the prosecutor’s timeline if witnesses were wrong about what they told police. “Mr. Mullin answered the questions posed by Defense to the best of his ability,” McLeland responded. “The simple fact that he did not respond as requested by the Defense is not a valid reason to request the intervention of the Court.”

Gull also did not rule on Allen’s motion to compel responses from the DOC guard, the director, Holeman or Mullin.

Allen has been awaiting trial since his arrest on October 26, 2022. For most of that time, he was held in solitary confinement in two maximum security prisons in Indiana.

Contact Ron Wilkins at [email protected]. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.