Judge rejects appeal request before Delphi murder trial

Richard Allen’s attorneys asked for an appeal on pretrial rulings allowing alleged confessions and blocking their third-party defense strategy. Judge Gull said no. Trial remains set for Oct. 14

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JUDGE REJECTS APPEAL REQUEST BEFORE DELPHI MURDER TRIAL

Judge Fran Gull wasted little time before denying an effort this week by Richard Allen’s attorneys to appeal two pivotal pretrial rulings in the case of the 2017 murders of Delphi teens Abby Williams and Libby German.

“Trial remains set October 14, 2024-November 15, 2024,” Gull wrote in an order issued Wednesday afternoon.

Libby German and Abby Williams (Photos provided)

Two days earlier, Allen’s defense team filed a motion signaling that they wanted to appeal Gull’s rulings in recent weeks that would allow prison cell confessions police and others say Allen made since his arrest and that would block references to third-party defense his attorneys have floated that points to set of Odinist/Norse paganists who murdered the girls as part of a religious ritual.

The request for an interlocutory appeal, heard before Allen’s trial was set to start, required Gull to certify her pretrial rulings before it could go to the Indiana Court of Appeals for its consideration.

Gull declined.