Jury selection commenced Monday in the Delphi, Indiana, murders trial of Richard Allen, the suspect charged in the murders of two teenage girls who were killed while taking pictures along a hiking trail.
The mysterious 2017 murders of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, went without an arrest for more than five years -- until Allen was charged with the crime that shocked the small community of around 3,000 residents.
The bodies of Abby and Libby were found a day after their families said they went missing while hanging out together near an abandoned rail bridge. Allen’s lawyers maintain his innocence, saying he "has nothing to hide.”
What happened Monday and what's next
As of Monday afternoon, 14 jurors - 12 jurors and two alternates had been chosen - reported WTHR, the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis. The full jury is expected to be chosen on Tuesday and will then be sworn in on Thursday before being transported to a hotel closer to Delphi for the trial.
There, they will be sequestered for the entirety of the trial, with opening statements by the prosecutor and defense team scheduled to take place on Friday.
Frances Gull, the special judge in the case, has prohibited video or audio from inside the courtroom and banned the use of electronics. The the trial is expected to last until Nov. 15, Gull told potential jurors on Monday.
Local
Limited information
The Delphi case is one that has gained widespread media attention, but details have been slow to emerge.
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Judge Frances Gull issued a gag order in December 2022, after Allen’s lawyers spoke out in defense of their client. At the time, a probable cause affidavit was unsealed claiming a bullet found near the children's bodies was linked to a gun belonging to the suspect.
Carroll County prosecutors sought the gag order amid intense media coverage, and it has prevented nearly everyone associated with the case, including lawyers, law enforcement officials and family members, from speaking publicly.
But the defense also asked for the trial to be held outside of Carroll County, arguing the potential of a “tainted jury pool.” Gull denied that request but agreed to allow the jury pool to come from Allen County, more than 100 miles away.
Dozens of alleged confessions
In June 2023, hundreds of pages of documents in the case were unsealed, revealing that an imprisoned Allen allegedly confessed to his wife in a phone call a couple of months earlier that he committed the murders.
Prosecutors also said he confessed to other people, including staff and inmates at the maximum-security state prison where he was being held.
Allen allegedly made more than 60 confessions while he was incarcerated in state prisons, according to WTHR.
But his lawyers responded in a separate document that he “appeared to be suffering from various psychotic symptoms which counsel would describe as schizophrenic and delusional.” They also said Allen seemed to have memory loss and “an overall inability to communicate rationally with counsel and family members.”
The attorneys noted that this behavior was different from how he normally interacted.
An alternate theory
While Allen’s defense is expected to counter any evidence of an alleged confession, his lawyers, Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi, won’t get to tell the jury one alternate theory for the killings. Gull last month denied their bid to claim that Abby and Libby were murdered as part of a ritualistic sacrifice by those linked to Odinism, a Norse pagan religion that has spread among white nationalist groups.
While the defense said in a memo that details from the crime scene may suggest some type of occult practice, Gull ultimately found that “the probative value of such evidence is greatly outweighed by confusion of the issues and its potential to mislead the jury.”
Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland downplayed the Odinism theory as a “fanciful defense for social media to devour.”
Defense lawyers, however, may still get to argue during the trial why certain evidence is admissible.
The defense's unusual request
The judge must still decide a defense request for jurors to visit the crime scene, arguing that doing so would “greatly aid” their understanding of what will be presented at trial.
Going there would help in “observing and feeling the unique topography of the land; something that cannot be understood from photographs and video,” defense lawyers wrote in their motion. Visiting a crime scene is unusual for a jury but has occurred in previous high-profile cases, including the trial of OJ Simpson.
Prosecutors have objected to the move, in part because of security concerns. Gull said she would rule on it after jury selection.
