FORT WAYNE, Ind. (NewsNation) — The trial for Richard Allen, who is accused of killing two teenage girls in 2017 in Delphi, Indiana, has been pushed back and will now start in October.
The trial was previously scheduled to start Monday, a date set by Special Judge Fran Gull after Allen’s attorneys filed a motion in March requesting a speedy trial.
Gull’s ruling came in a Tuesday hearing that had been set to consider the trial’s length and what terms might be banned during jury selection.
How long will the trial last?
Allen’s trial over the deaths of 13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German was originally expected to last about three weeks; however, the defense argued that wouldn’t be enough time to ensure Allen gets a fair trial.
The defense also filed another motion to have Gull disqualify herself from the case, NewsNation affiliate WXIN reported. During the contentious hearing Tuesday, Gull told defense attorney Bradley Rozzi that she couldn’t understand why Allen’s team couldn’t defend their client during the time allotted for the trial.
Rozzi argued that “you don’t know anything about this case,” citing a lack of pretrial hearings to debate potential evidence.
The new trial dates are Oct. 14 through Nov. 15 in Carroll County, Gull said Tuesday. There will be three days of pretrial evidence hearings May 21-23 in Carroll County.
The prosecution has a list of 118 witnesses, and the defense expects an additional 70 witnesses in the trial. No cameras will be allowed in the courtroom.
What terms do prosecutors want banned?
The prosecution was also expected to argue during Tuesday’s hearing that certain terms and names should be banned for the defense team during jury selection.
Prosecutors claim that the defense could attempt to indoctrinate the jury with the use of certain terms and names. The terms include “Odinism,” “cult,” “ritualistic killing” and certain names of people and witnesses listed in court documents throughout the investigation.
NewsNation reached out to the defense and prosecution for comment on Tuesday’s hearing but has not heard back.
Allen made ‘confessions’ to inmates, guards
Williams and German went missing during a walk along the Delphi Historic Trail, and their bodies were found in February 2017 in a rugged area near the trial. It was years later, in October 2022, that Allen was arrested.
Previous reports have detailed how Allen reportedly admitted to killing the girls during a prison phone call to his wife, but his attorneys have repeatedly claimed Allen was under physical and mental duress at the time and his statements couldn’t be trusted.
However, this wasn’t the only time Allen made “incriminating statements.” A new filing reveals that Allen also reportedly made further “confessions” to guards and inmates during his stay at Westville Correction Facility.
Allen’s attorneys are pushing for these “confessions” to be suppressed, stating in their latest motion that the poor conditions Allen was kept in compounded his deteriorating mental health state. The defense attorneys said these so-called “confessions” were the result of “psychological and mental coercion illegally directed against the Defendant” and therefore were “involuntarily given.”
Allen’s attorneys said their client was kept on “suicide watch” during the majority of his stay at Westville prison and that he was exposed to “some of the harshest conditions that even the most heinous of convicted offenders have not endured.”
It should be noted that a judge felt that Allen was being treated better than most inmates during his stay at Westville.
NewsNation affiliate WXIN contributed to this report.