DELPHI, INDIANA: Defense lawyers Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi stepped down from representing the Indiana man Richard Allen, 51, accused of killing two teenage girls during their hiking trip 2017.
Baldwin and Rozzi dumped their client on Thursday, October 19, because of an “unexpected turn of events,” per New York Post.
The two attorneys’ withdrawal from the case came within a month after vital information regarding the murders of the two teenagers got leaked from Baldwin’s office.
The two teenagers Abigail (Libby) Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, were found dead in 2017 when they went on a hiking trail near their hometown in Delphi.
Baldwin and Rozzi’s 'unexpected' withdrawal
Special Judge Fran Gull announced during Thursday’s hearing on October 19, “We’ve had an unexpected turn of events,” after which she talked about Baldwin and Rozzi’s withdrawal from the case.
During the hearing, Gull did not reveal the cause behind Baldwin and Rozzi’s withdrawal.
On the same day, however, it was revealed that several documents - including pictures of the crime scene - were leaked from Baldwin’s office.
The news outlet reveals that a lawyer representing Baldwin said that an investigation is going on against three perpetrators who “betrayed” Baldwin after gaining access to the case related paperwork which was being kept “locked in a room or a locked fireproof file cabinet.”
Baldwin’s attorney David R. Hennessy said, “Attorney Baldwin did nothing wrong. He was snookered and abused.”
Gull further said she would appoint another defense lawyer for Allen and hopes to maintain the date for the October 31 hearing.
She, however, said, the trial date of January 8 might not be maintained, saying, “I don’t believe counsel will be prepared within the next couple of months to try a case of this magnitude in January.”
Baldwin and Rozzi’s withdrawal came just after a month of them saying their former client Allen not being related to the murder while claiming that the two victims were “ritualistically sacrificed” by a racist pagan cult instead.
When was Richard Allen charged?
On October 26, 2022, Allen was arrested in the charge of double homicide of Abigail Williams and Liberty German.
Earlier in February 2017, just a day after the girls’ bodies were discovered on February 14, police released a grainy snap of the suspect extracted from a 43-second-long video found on German’s phone.
Based on the findings, Allen was arrested in October 2022 and defense attorneys Anthony Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin were appointed by the court on November 14, 2022.
Previously Allen was arrested after the deputies found out the .40-caliber rounds that were there in Williams and German’s bodies came from his gun.
The attorneys stepping down also came within a month of them claiming the involvement of “ritualistic” paganism involved in the girls’ murder.
They said, Allen was “monitored, intimidated, and mentally abused” by at least three corrections officers at Westville Correctional Facility.
The attorneys claimed the officers who “abused” him belonged to the cult Odinism. They also believed the two victims were murdered by practitioner of the same cult.
WTHR reported that as per previous court documents Allen had admitted killing the teens to his wife and mother.
"He admits several times within the phone call that he committed the offenses as charged. His wife ended the call abruptly," per the court documents reported by WTHR.
