(NewsNation) — No cameras will be allowed in the courtroom for the trial of Richard Allen, who is accused of killing two teenage girls in 2017 in Delphi, Indiana.
Special Judge Fran Gull made the ruling Wednesday, NewsNation local affiliate WXIN reported.
Allen’s trial over the deaths of 13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German is set to start May 13. Prior to the start of the trial, multiple news agencies had filed a request to allow cameras in the courtroom during the case, which has made national headlines.
Prosecutors have also accused the defense team of contempt, while defense attorneys say the prosecution and police investigators have lied, WXIN reported. Allen’s attorneys says their client was kept on “suicide watch” while at Westville Correction Facility and that he was exposed to “some of the harshest conditions that even the most heinous of convicted offenders have not endured.”
Although previous reports have detailed “incriminating statements” made by Allen, even saying he admitted to killing the girls during a prison phone call with his wife, his attorneys repeatedly said these claims can’t be trusted, as he was under physical and mental duress, WXIN reported.
Allen was later transferred to Wabash Valley Correctional Facility.
There have been a number of other aspects complicating the case as well: Allen’s lawyers were removed last fall and then reinstated in January after crime scene evidence leaked online.
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 officially arrested.
Allen’s trial is scheduled to begin May 13 and expected to last about three weeks.