CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. — The attorneys representing the man accused in the Delphi, Indiana, murders want the trial moved up from its current scheduled date of Oct. 15.
Richard Allen is charged with two counts of murder in the killings of Abby Williams and Libby German, two teenage girls whose bodies were found near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi in February 2017.
Allen’s attorneys, Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi, have been involved in a veritable storm of legal maneuvers surrounding the high-profile murder case, including taking the matter all the way to the Indiana Supreme Court after being removed as Allen’s attorneys by Judge Fran Gull.
Baldwin and Rozzi were reinstated on the case by the high court but have filed for delays in recent weeks as Gull and Carroll County Prosecuting Attorney Nicholas McLeland pushed for a hearing to discuss holding the pair of attorneys in contempt along with leveling additional murder charges and kidnapping charges against Allen.
While Baldwin and Rozzi asked for more time to prepare for that hearing, the pair filed a motion Wednesday that called on the murder trial to be moved up.
According to the motion, Baldwin and Rozzi want Richard Allen’s trial to take place within 70 days. In previous filings, Baldwin and Rozzi had discussed using the speedy trial option to bring the matter to court. The pair had claimed they’d intended to use this tactic before Gull removed them from the case, although Gull pointed out they never filed a motion for a speedy trial.
As part of the grievance taken before the Indiana Supreme Court previously, Allen asked the court to force his trial to take place within 70 days. The high court denied that request, however, along with Allen’s request to remove Gull from proceeding over the case.
If the court grants the motion to have the highly profiled Delphi murders trial within the next 70 days, then Richard Allen would likely go to trial before the start of summer in May — five months sooner than the currently scheduled start date of Oct. 15.