Liberty "Libby" German, Richard Allen, and Abigail "Abby" Williams.
Indiana prosecutors in the high-profile Delphi murders case have responded to a series of polemical allegations put forth by the attorneys representing Richard Allen, claiming that the defense team has repeatedly made "unfounded accusations supported by absolutely no proof" in previous court filings. Responding to a motion seeking for Allen to be immediately transferred to another detention facility, prosecutors refuted "colorful and dramatic" allegations that Allen has been mistreated by guards because they are members of a "pagan cult," and characterized the claim that Allen is entitled to privacy when his wife visits as "astonishing."
In seeking to have Allen transferred, his attorneys argued in April that he had been held in conditions "akin to those of a prisoner of war" in order to frustrate his ability to defend himself at his upcoming trial.
After the transfer request was denied by Special Judge Fran C. Gull, the defense last month filed a massive legal memo claiming that law enforcement investigating the case had withheld exculpatory evidence, lied about the investigation while under oath, and ignored evidence that the victims may have been "ritualistically sacrificed" by a white nationalist "Odinism" cult.
The memo also indicated that two of the guards at the Westville Correctional Facility — where Allen has been held in detention — were members of the aforementioned pagan cult. According to the defense, those guards had been "unjust and inhumane" in their treatment of Allen. Included in the laundry list of complaints was the defense's claim that the two guards — who both admitted in sworn depositions to wearing "Odinist" patches on their uniforms until ordered not to do so — had not allowed Allen to have any privacy when his wife visited him at the facility.
Both guards also stated that despite the patches they wore on their uniforms, they did not practice Odinism and were not part of any cult or white supremacist group.
In their latest filing, prosecutors were incredulous in regard to the notion that the guards should have left Allen and his wife to have discussions in private, as doing so would be a violation of their clearly-stated duties.
"[T]he Defense seems to imply that Sergeant Jones should have left his post in violation of his direct orders and therefore risk his employment just so the Defendant and his wife could have more privacy," the document states. "The fact that the Defense expects the Defendant and his wife to have intimate privacy in a prison is astonishing."
In sworn depositions, the prison guards who admitted to wearing the Odinist patches on their uniforms said neither of them had ever threatened Allen nor had either of them ever had interactions with him on a one-on-one basis.
In a different document filed Tuesday, prosecutors also said they had no objection to the defense's request that all discovery material be provided by a Nov. 1 deadline, adding that they were not aware of any material that was exculpatory in nature or intentionally withheld.
Allen is facing two counts of murder in the 2017 slayings of 13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German, whose bodies were discovered in a wooded area just off of the Delphi Historic Trails system.
Abby and Libby vanished while walking the Monon High Bridge Trail near Delphi, Indiana, on Feb. 13, 2017. The trail traverses an abandoned stretch of what was once the Monon Railroad and crosses an old trestle over a small river or creek. The girls were found dead the next day in an area near the trestle and their deaths were determined to be homicides.
Allen's trial is currently scheduled to begin in January 2024.
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