The defence attorney for Delphi murder suspect Richard Allen resigned from the double-murder case on Thursday, citing suspicions that leaked images of the crime scene were obtained from one of the attorney’s associates.
The horrible photographs were taken in a wooded spot near the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana, where Liberty “Libby” German, 14, and Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, were murdered after going missing from a trip on Feb. 13, 2017.
“We’ve had an unexpected turn of events, ladies and gentlemen,” Carroll County Judge Fran Gull remarked during Thursday’s hearing, which FOX 59 Indianapolis videotaped. “Earlier this afternoon, the defence attorneys have withdrawn their representation of Mr. Allen.”
Gull returned Allen to Westville Correctional Facility, where he is entitled to new counsel. She also directed his attorney to return discovery to the state of Indiana. Gull said that the solicitors, Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi, agreed to work with the new counsel.
Baldwin’s attorney, David Hennessy, told Fox News Digital that the lawyers did not “quit” the lawsuit, but rather “withdrew under coercive circumstances.”
“They dedicated their lives to an innocent client,” he said.
Hennessy submitted an amicus brief on Thursday arguing that Baldwin should not be barred from representing Allen because they had “developed a strong and trusting bond” before his withdrawal.
“Disqualification of either of his court-appointed attorneys would greatly prejudice his right to counsel and a timely trial,” Hennessy said in the filing. “Disqualification of counsel is an extreme remedy for any alleged or perceived violation of a court’s order. Most if not all cases concerning disqualification of counsel involve conflicts of interest.”
Hennessy also claimed that Baldwin should not be disqualified when “an individual not part of the attorney’s office or staff surreptitiously purloins information from the attorney and disseminates it without permission or the attorney’s knowledge.”
“The issue before the Court is a horrible tragedy created by persons not related to the defence of Mr. Allen. There were three disseminators, one of whom committed suicide after the law enforcement investigation began. It should be considered that nothing has been disclosed that won’t be disclosed at trial or hearings,” Hennessy wrote.
Kevin Greenlee and Aine Cain of the podcast “The Murder Sheet” were the first to report an alleged connection between Baldwin and the photo leak.
Cain went on to say that they did not anticipate to “preemptively withdraw themselves,” especially since Baldwin brought in Hennessy to defend him. “Obviously, their plans changed quite a lot,” Cain told reporters.
This week, Fox News Digital learned that a person connected to the photo leak committed suicide, as FOX 59 Indianapolis originally reported.
Allen, 50, was arrested in October 2022 for allegedly murdering Libby and Abby, whose bodies were discovered in the woods a day after they vanished from their walk on the Monon High Bridge Trail.
Prosecutors claim that evidence from the crime site matched evidence acquired from Allen’s house last year when police served a search warrant. Allen allegedly confessed to the acts he is suspected of perpetrating five times over the phone while chatting with his wife from jail.
In court documents filed last month, Allen’s defence claimed that Libby and Abby’s deaths were part of a ritualistic sacrifice performed by members of an Indiana pagan Odinist cult, arguing that branches and other items found at the scene of the girls’ murders were arranged in Odinism-specific patterns.
Prosecutors described the allegations as “colourful, dramatic, and unprofessional.”
On February 14, 2017, police discovered Libby’s mobile under her body, a day after the girls went hiking. The phone contained a 43-second video of Abigail walking across the Monon High Bridge towards Libby, with a man in a dark jacket and jeans following after her. The male can be heard ordering the girls “down the hill,” according to an affidavit.
Libby took the video at 2:13 p.m., less than 25 minutes after dropping Abigail and her family off at the path.
On Oct. 13, 2022, investigators obtained a search warrant at Allen’s Delphi home and found a blue Carhartt jacket, a SIG Sauer P226.40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and a.40-caliber S&W cartridge in a “wooden keepsake box” from a dresser between two closets in his bedroom.
The weapon seized at Allen’s residence matched the 0.40-caliber unspent bullet found at the scene of the murders in 2017.
A gag order imposed on the parties involved in Allen’s case has banned solicitors and police from publicly discussing the nature of the murders and claims against the suspect.
According to Gull, the next hearing in Allen’s case is slated for later this month.
Baldwin did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital query, and Rozzi’s office could not be reached.
