Delphi murder trial: Jury deliberations resume Friday in the trial of Richard Allen

CNN
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Jury deliberations continue Friday in the highly publicized double murder case against Richard Allen – who is accused of murdering two teenage girls and leaving their bodies near a hiking trail in the small town of Delphi, Indiana, more than seven years ago.

Allen has pleaded not guilty to two murder and two felony charges in connection with the 2017 deaths of Liberty “Libby” German, 14, and Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13. Allen faces up to 130 years in prison if convicted. of all allegations, the Associated Press reported.

The twelve-member jury began deliberating Thursday and will return Friday morning. According to CNN affiliate, they will deliberate Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. until they reach a verdict WHT. Last month, 16 Allen County residents were selected to serve on the jury, including four people who served as alternates WHT.

Allen County Superior Court Judge Frances Gull gave the jury their final instructions Thursday morning, urging them to “consider the facts” before Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland delivered closing arguments and walked the jury through the evidence and testimony that were presented during the trial, WTHR reported.

“I believe the evidence is compellingly compelling that Richard Allen is Bridge Guy and that he killed Abby and Libby,” McLeland told the jury.

McLeland showed jurors graphic photos of the girls’ bodies, a video of the suspect taken from Libby’s smartphone that he said captured the last moments of the girls’ lives, and a recording of Allen allegedly telling his wife during a phone call known person.

“I did it,” Allen was heard telling his wife. “I killed Abby and Libby.”

Defense attorney Brad Rozzi said in his closing arguments that a broken timeline, false confessions and a lack of DNA or weapons evidence should lead to an acquittal.

“The defense trusts that what you have heard in recent weeks is more important than what you hear today,” Rozzi told the jury Thursday.

The defense further argued that there is no physical evidence linking Allen to the murders and said confessions he has made in the past were “involuntary” and stemmed from months in solitary confinement.

The Delphi murder case dates back to February 13, 2017, when “Abby” and “Libby” went for a walk on the Monon High Bridge in Delphi. The two girls were reported missing after failing to meet Libby’s father that afternoon. The next day their bodies were found, both dead from cuts in the throat, partially covered with sticks.

The case attracted public attention in part because of a photo and audio recording of the suspect taken from Libby’s smartphone. The image shows a man walking across the bridge with his hands in his pockets, and the audio includes the muffled voice of a man saying, “Guys, down the hill.” Although police released the photo and audio just days after the murders and identified the “Bridge Guy” as their prime suspect, the case was stalled for more than five years until Allen was arrested in 2022.

Allen had apparently evaded police attention by staying in the small town of Delphi and working at a local CVS pharmacy, until a clerk digitization tips related to the investigation, in September 2022, noticed that he had placed himself at the scene of the crime. Just days after the bodies were discovered, Allen told police he had been on that trail during the time the girls were believed to have been murdered.

Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett said Allen “got lost in the cracks” despite the tip. according to CNN affiliate WLFI. About a month after the tip was rediscovered, Allen discovered was arrested after police matched an unused cartridge found among the girls’ bodies to a gun recovered from his home during a police investigation.

After Allen was arrested on October 26, 2022, he was charged with two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit a kidnapping five days later. Prosecutors later amended the indictment to include two additional murder charges.

Allen’s mental state and admissions were highlighted

Over the course of the trial, which began Oct. 18, the prosecution emphasized Allen’s dozens of confessions while in prison: He confessed to the crime more than 60 times, prosecutors say, including to his wife, his mother, the psychologist who treated him, the warden and other prison employees and inmates. They played audio recordings of some confessions to the jury.

Monica Wala, the former chief psychologist at the Westville Correctional Facility where Allen was housed, testified that he initially told her he was innocent but began confessing to the crimes in April 2023, around the time he was placed back on suicide watch.

Wala testified that Allen told her, “I killed Abby and Libby. I’m sorry,” according to CNN affiliate WTHR. He said he originally planned to sexually assault the victims but ran away when he saw a van nearby, and that he slit the girls’ throats and covered their bodies with sticks, she testified.

The defense has sought to paint a portrait of Allen as a mentally ill man whose fragile mental state was exacerbated by months spent in solitary confinement — including during the period in which he confessed to the crimes. He was placed on suicide watch twice in prison, exhibited bizarre behavior such as eating his own feces and banging his head, and was once diagnosed with “a brief psychotic disorder,” according to Wala’s testimony.

Testifying for the defense, Deanna Dwenger, a clinical psychologist who worked for the Indiana Department of Corrections Behavioral Health, testified that Allen was diagnosed with a serious mental illness in April 2023 and that a team of mental health professionals concluded that he had a “ had a serious disability. ” according to CNN affiliate WRTV.

The defense originally hoped to introduce the so-called “Odinism” defense: a theory that followers of Odinism, a Norse pagan religion recently adopted by white supremacists, had committed the killings. But Judge Gull repeatedly rejected requests to introduce this theory.

Audio recordings and bullet evidence became major points of interest

Despite Allen’s confessions, there is very little physical evidence tying him to the case: a DNA expert who testified for the state found none of Allen’s DNA at the crime scene, and none of Libby or Abby’s DNA was found on objects found were recovered from his home.

Prosecutors drew attention to the unspent .40-caliber bullet found in the girls’ bodies, which a prosecution expert testified matched Allen’s gun. The defense questioned the bullet evidence, wondering why more photos of the cartridge weren’t taken and suggesting the bullet could have come from a law enforcement officer’s weapon, according to WRTV.

The prosecution also attempted to match Allen to the video and audio recording of the “Bridge Guy” captured on Libby’s cell phone. Indiana State Police Chief Trooper Brian Harshman, who said he listened to more than 700 of Allen’s phone calls in prison, testified for the prosecution that in his opinion “the voice of the ‘Bridge Guy’ is the voice of Richard Allen .” according to WTV.

“Richard Allen is Bridge Guy,” McLeland told the judges. “He kidnapped them and later killed them.”

In response, Rozzi said Allen was not clearly identified by witnesses as the man on the walkway or bridge when the teens went missing. He also pointed out that Allen lived in Delphi for more than five years after the girls were murdered.

“He had every opportunity to run, but he didn’t because he didn’t do it,” Rozzi told jurors.