Delphi murder trial: A brutal Day 3, by all accounts

Wrapping up reports from the courtroom in the trial of Richard Allen, as photos of Abby Williams, Libby German at the crime scene are shown to jurors. Plus, defense questions use of 'Bridge Guy' audio

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• Sponsorship help for this edition also comes from Purdue Musical Organizations. The 91st Annual Purdue Christmas Show is the must-see event of the year! Gather your family and friends, and create lasting memories as you sing along to your favorite songs and marvel at the extraordinary Purdue student talent on display. Get tickets here.

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DELPHI MURDER TRIAL: A BRUTAL DAY 3

By all accounts, Monday – the third day of testimony in the trial of Richard Allen in the 2017 murders of Delphi eighth-graders Abby Williams and Libby German – was a brutal one in Carroll Circuit Court.

According to pool media reports, the warnings given to the jury in last week’s opening arguments were for the scenes displayed Monday, with dozens of detailed crime scene photos of the girls as they were found Feb. 14, 2017, in the woods near the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi.

(Photo: Dave Bangert)

Here were a few of the key takeaways from Monday, based on pool media reports.

• Carroll County Sheriff’s Deputy Darron Giancola was the first officer on the scene after a community search discovered the girls’ bodies north of Deer Creek on the afternoon of Feb. 14, nearly 24 hours after they were dropped off for a hike on the Monon High Bridge Trail. Giancola testified he’d joined the search for the girls on Feb. 13, an off-day from his job. He testified that he’d been near the cemetery along County Road 300 North the next day when others searching for the girls pointed him to where they were. He said one of the girls was naked, the other was clothed, both of their necks cut. “It was apparent they were deceased,” he said.

• Sgt. Jason Page, an Indiana State Police crime scene investigator, detailed how the crime scene was secured. Through crime scene photos of the girls, Page described how Abby was wearing a dark blue sweatshirt, lying on her back, right knee bent and right foot under her left leg. He testified that Abby’s clothing seemed damp. Page testified that that the scene was saturated with blood on the ground. Trees near the bodies also had blood on them, he testified. Page also testified about an unspent bullet found at the scene – and was a pivotal piece of evidence in the prosecutor’s probable cause affidavit when Allen was arrested in October 2022. Page testified the investigators used a blue light to locate the bullet after the bodies were moved.

• Duane Datzman, a former Indiana State Police crime scene investigator, was challenged by Andrew Baldwin, one of Allen’s attorneys, about why police hadn’t taken photos of the unspent bullet where it was when they found it. And a juror asked, via Judge Fran Gull, whether there would be any reason on the bullet presented as evidence was a different bullet. Datzman said there wasn’t. Datzman also testified about finding sticks and limbs on and around Abby and Libby’s bodies and how they were removed. (Whether sticks found on the girls’ bodies were evidence of an old Norse religious ceremony and eventual ritualistic killing by a group not connected with Allen has been a key theory for the defense – one the judge ruled wasn’t allowed at trial.) Baldwin also pressed Datzman about why investigators didn’t take the sticks as evidence, leaving them at the site until March 3, 2017.

• Testimony Tuesday is expected to pick up with Brian Olehy, who was another ISP crime scene investigator. On the stand Monday, Olehy gave details about the scene, the clothing found there and pools of blood near the girls’ body.

Libby German, left, and Abby Williams. (Photos provided)

For more details from reporters in the courtroom Monday, check:

• Journal & Courier’s Ron Wilkins and Indianapolis Star’s Jordan Smith: “Gasps and tears as graphic images of Abby and Libby are shown to jurors at Delphi trial,” and “Crime scene investigators challenged over sticks, unspent round evidence.”

• Fox59’s Matt Adams, Russ McQuaid and Matt Christy: “Day 3 of testimony includes graphic crime scene photos.”

• WRTV’s Kaitlyn Kendal and Rachael Wilkerson: “Jury sees graphic crime scene photos on Day 3 of testimony.”

• WTHR’s Bob Segall: “Jury sees graphic crime scene photos | Day 3 of Delphi murders trial for suspect Richard Allen.”

• WANE’s Alyssa Ivanson and Marcus Truscio: “Crime scene photos show evidence collected day girls were found.”

More coverage

For more, here’s coverage from Saturday, a half-day in court for Day 2 of testimony.

And from Friday, the first day of testimony.

And a final round of pretrial hearing, held Thursday in Allen County.

DEFENSE LOOKS TO LIMIT STATE’S USE OF AUDIO FROM ‘BRIDGE GUY’ VIDEO

Late Sunday, Allen’s defense team filed a motion looking “to prohibit the state from eliciting testimony as to the words and sounds allegedly contained in the video recovered from Liberty German’s cell phone.”

The cellphone found with Libby in 2017 contained a video clip with images of a man walking on the Monon High Bridge and audio widely circulated by investigators during the search for suspects of a man saying, “Guys … down the hill.”

(Image via Indiana State Police)

In court documents tied to Allen’s murder charges in 2022, Prosecutor Nick McLeland also wrote that one of the girls mentioned the word “gun” in the clip.

The motion asks the court not to allow the prosecutor to elicit testimony based on an enhanced version of the audio, which investigators played in a loop as they solicited tips in the case. The motion contends that “interpreting the words and sounds on the enhanced video requires a completely subjective analysis” and that “testimony identifying the words and sounds on the video is speculative.”

“It is up to the jury to determine what words or sounds exist on the recordings,” the defense team motion said.

The motion also argues that the audio and video enhancements “appear to be investigatory tools” that “were not related to the identification of Richard Allen as a suspect.”

That follows a ruling from Gull last week, as testimony started, siding with the prosecution that the defense should be barred from presenting a pair of composite sketches – ones shared publicly in 2017 and 2019 to drum up tips about potential suspects – because they weren’t used to identify Allen and might mislead jurors.

As of Monday evening, no response from the prosecutor or ruling from Judge Gull had been posted in the online docket.

MOTION FILED FOR BROADER ACCESS TO EXHIBITS

Andrea Burkhart, a Washington state-based attorney and legal analyst on YouTube and Substack, filed a motion Monday, calling for equal footing for the public to see exhibits at the end of each day in court. Burkhart’s motion also asked the court for access to audio recordings the court is making of the proceedings.

Burkhart, a public defender, is among the non-legacy media attending the Delphi hearings and reporting on them. Broader access to the hearings has been a bone of contention for media of all stripes, given Judge Fran Gull’s rejection of all requests for cameras or recording devices during the highly anticipated trial. The judge hasn’t allowed the public any electronics, of any kind, inside the Carroll County Courthouse during the trial. On any given day, so far, there have been 24 seats for the public in the courtroom, after accounting for seats reserved for families, the prosecution, the defense and 12 for credentialed media.

Before the trial, Gull initially refused to release access to exhibits presented during three days of pretrial hearings July 30-Aug. 1 and planned to keep those offered in the trials off-limits for public viewing until after the trial and likely until after appeals. She acquiesced, offering access to the July and August exhibits for a time this week in her home court of Allen County. And in an order from Oct. 16, she allowed credentialled media 15 minutes at the end of each day to look at – not photograph or video – exhibits presented that day.

Gull’s order limits that to those media with credentials, which are allocated by a lottery system managed by a coalition of traditional broadcast and print outlets. That means reporters who get in the courtroom on days that they don’t have court-issued credentials don’t get to check out photos, maps and other evidence presented during the day. That also means all the non-legacy media outlets and the rest of the public get aced out, too. (On Saturday, Gull repeatedly told one person to leave that part of the courtroom unless she had a credential.)

“Somebody needs to fight for public access,” Burkhart wrote Monday morning. “Might as well be me.”

As of Monday evening, Gull had not responded or issued a ruling on Burkart’s motion.

To see her motion, check her Substack.

WHAT’S NEXT: The state’s case resumes at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Carroll Circuit Court. The trial is scheduled to run until Nov. 15.

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EARLY VOTING UPDATE, TODAY THROUGH THE WEEK

Early voting this week ahead of the Nov. 5 general election features two sites designed to be close to Purdue, including one at the Co-Rec, designated after uproar from students and voting advocates about limited access on campus.

• Tuesday, Oct. 22: noon-5 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 1700 Mitch Daniels Boulevard, West Lafayette

• Thursday, Oct. 24: 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Purdue Co-Rec, 355 N. Martin Jischke Drive, West Lafayette.

Also in play, early voting sites are open:

• Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette

Saturday, Oct. 26:

• 9 a.m.-1 p.m., West Point Fire Station, 4949 Indiana 25 S., West Point

• 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Otterbein United Methodist Church, 405 Oxford St., Otterbein

• 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Clarks Hill Christian Church, 9510 Pearl St., Clarks Hill

• 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette;

For more about finding what races are on your ballot, candidate Q&As and a complete list of where to vote on or before Nov. 5, check this voter guide.

Thanks, again, to Stuart & Branigin for sponsorship help with today’s edition.

Thanks for support from Purdue Musical Organizations, presenting the 91st Annual Purdue Christmas Show, Dec. 7-8. Get tickets here.

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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.