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Delphi murders: Judge rejects defense request for hearing on search warrant

Delphi murders: Judge rejects Richard Allen defense request for search warrant hearing

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The judge in the double murder trial of Richard Allen, the man accused of murdering two Delphi teenagers has rejected the defense’s request to have a hearing on the search warrant.

Allen, 51, of Delphi, was arrested on Oct. 28, 2022, for the February 2017 murders of 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams and 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi.

After hearings in late July and early August, Judge Francis Gull took the defense’s motion for a third and fourth Franks hearing under advisement. The defense argued that the affidavit investigators used to obtain a search warrant for Richard Allen’s home contained inaccurate information and intended to mislead the judge into approving the search warrant.

The judge also ruled the defense did not show proof that investigators ‘knowingly or intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth, included a false statement in the search warrant affidavit and that the allegedly false statement was necessary to a finding of probable cause.’ For this reason, the defense’s motion for a fourth Franks hearing was denied.

Earlier today Judge Gull set a date for a partially closed hearing in the case. That hearing will be held on August 23.

The order states that the first portion of the hearing will be closed to the public, while the second half of the hearing will be open to the public.

The order does not specify what the hearing is going to address, but there are several motions made by the defense that Judge Gull took under advisement in hearings at the end of July.

Allen’s trial has already been pushed back several times since his arrest. The most recent trial dates were May 13-31, but the case was pushed to October after the defense told Judge Gull that they needed more time to present their case.

The trial is now set to start Oct. 14 and run through Nov. 15.