Indiana prosecutors have filed new charges, including murder, against the suspect in the gruesome slayings of two Indiana teenagers seven years ago.
Richard Matthew Allen, 51, the man accused of killing Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, while they were walking near their hometown of Delphi in 2017, filed new charges of felony kidnapping and murder against him on Thursday. , according to the report.
Allen had previously been charged with two counts of murder following his arrest in October 2022.
Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland’s new filing with the Indiana Supreme Court states that the new charges “more closely align the charging information with the discovery and probable cause affidavit.”
In the state of Indiana, murder is defined as knowingly or intentionally killing another human being.
If the prosecution can prove that Allen kidnapped or attempted to kidnap the girls, he can be charged with both counts of felony murder, since he would be linked to the murders, even if they cannot prove that he was the real killer.
Prosecutors are pushing to charge teenage killer Richard Allen with two additional counts of murder and kidnapping. Carroll County Circuit Court
Judge Fran Gull has not yet ruled on the motion.
Thursday’s filing comes the same day the Indiana Supreme Court heard arguments to allow the reinstatement of Allen’s originally court-appointed attorneys, Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi, after the accused killer had requested their reinstatement.
The Supreme Court also denied a defense request to remove Gull as a trial judge during Thursday’s hearing and ruled against the defense’s attempts to have the trial begin within 70 days.
Allen had previously been charged with two counts of murder following his arrest in October 2022. Indiana State Police
The two lawyers had withdrawn from the case in October 2023 after Gull found they had been “grossly negligent” following a leak of court documents, including photographs of the gruesome crime scene, from Baldwin’s office.
Gull had issued the gag order in December 2022 for everyone involved in the case, including the girls’ relatives, given the intense national interest in the murders.
The trial was scheduled to begin on January 8, 2024, prior to Baldwin and Rozzi’s withdrawal.
Lawyers Andrew Baldwin (L) and Brad Rozzi (R) returned to defend Richard Allen after they withdrew from the case late last year. WTHR
Their shock withdrawal came just a month after the duo revealed their bizarre defense claim that the girls were “ritually sacrificed” by a racist pagan sect and not their client.
The accused teenage killer had allegedly confessed to the murders multiple times in prison phone calls to his wife and mother, according to previous court documents.
However, his attorneys claim their client was “surveilled, intimidated and mentally abused” at the Westville Correctional Facility by correctional officers who were Odinists, the same sect that Baldwin and Rozzi claim were the teens’ real killers.
Libby German (L) and Abby Williams (R) were murdered on February 14, 2017, while walking near their hometown. Facebook
The murders had dogged the small town of about 3,000 people until Allen’s arrest last year.
The bodies of the two girls were found in a rugged area near a hiking trail on February 14, 2017, a day after they disappeared during a day off from school.
The eighth graders had documented part of their walk on Snapchat, and chilling grainy footage taken from German’s phone showed a man walking on a bridge near where the girls were last seen.
A photo of the Delphi homicide suspect was taken from German’s phone shortly before the teens were killed. Indiana State Police
An audio recording was also released of a man, believed to be the suspect, saying: “Down the hill.”
Allen was charged after an analysis concluded that a .40-caliber bullet found between the bodies of Williams and German came from a gun he owned.
He now faces four counts of murder, but will only be sentenced on two counts of murder if he is convicted of murdering the teens.
Flowers are placed on the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana, on October 31, 2022, near where Liberty German and Abigail Williams were last seen. AP
Despite the four different murder charges, each carries the same possible sentence of 45 and 65 years in prison.
If convicted of kidnapping, he will also face an additional three and 16 years behind bars, under Indiana law.
Allen pleaded not guilty to the original two murder charges following his arrest.
It remains to be seen whether the new charges will affect the proposed trial date set for October 2024.
With post cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn