INDIANAPOLIS — The Allen County Superior Judge Fran Gull, who was appointed to oversee the trial of the 2017 Delphi murders suspect, Richard Allen faces a critical deadline the Monday after Thanksgiving.
In late October, attorneys for Allen asked the Indiana Supreme Court to vacate the special judge in the case.
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According to previous reports, the Writ of Mandamus was originally filed by two attorneys not directly affiliated with the murder case, arguing Judge Gull had ruled against Allen’s constitutional rights and that she should be replaced.
The attorneys also cited Allen’s right to a speedy trial under Indiana law.
Judge Gull took over the case to bring stability after the highly-publicized arrest of the suspected killer five and a half years after the bodies of Abby Williams and Libby German were found dead of stab wounds in a wooded area near the Monon High Bridge outside of Delphi.
The original defense team for Allen ran into conflict with Judge Gull with what they admitted was a “zealous” defense and a couple of inadvertent evidence leaks, one confirmed in late September.
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The September leak included crime scene photographs to social media posters and reportedly led to one leaker’s suicide.
Transcripts released last week showed that Judge Gull wanted the defense team removed from the case prior to her October announcement in a court hearing that the lawyers had “voluntarily withdrawn from the case.”
Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi had composed Allen’s defense team as co-counsels since Nov. 14, 2022, before being removed from the case in October.
Last Monday, Gull released the transcript of the secret meeting in her chambers before the Oct. 19 hearing, after Rozzi asked the state’s high court to throw the judge out claiming she “ambushed” and “coerced” him and Baldwin to drop out in a secret meeting in her chambers prior to the October hearing.
Justices for the state’s Supreme Court granted the judge a new deadline of Nov. 27 to file her response to the petition due to its complexity and Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office declining to represent Judge Gull in the matter.
Rozzi and Baldwin are fighting to remain on the Delphi murders case and have petitioned the Indiana Supreme Court to reinstate them as Allen’s counsel. Their petition also asked the Supreme Court to remove Gull and for Allen’s trial to occur within 70 days.
Gull had already assigned a new defense team for Allen and moved the trial date from January 2024 to October 2024.
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A Westfield man had also been charged after reportedly admitting to taking photos of sensitive crime scene evidence related to the Delphi murders and leaking the photos online.
Court records revealed that 41-year-old Mitchell Westerman of Westfield is charged with one count of conversion, a Class A misdemeanor.
Last week, FOX59/CBS4 learned that the special judge hadn’t been handling her recent caseload due to health issues and hospitalizations.
According to a statement from an Allen Superior Court official, Judge Gull had been “working from home recently following a hospital stay where she received treatment for an urgent medical condition.”
The Judge had reportedly consulted a doctor on Nov. 2, after feeling sick for several days. Gull had met with the Delphi case attorneys just two days prior on Oct. 31.
Other Allen County judges and colleagues had been helping handle Gull’s caseload since the hospitalization and the statement added Judge Gull expected to return to the office “soon.”
There has been no indication that the “health issues” will affect any filings submitted by Monday’s deadline with the Indiana Supreme Court.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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