FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WISH) — Richard Allen never entered the courtroom Thursday afternoon. A few minutes before the hearing was scheduled to start, Richard Allen’s wife was taken into the back hall to see her husband. A few minutes later, she and one of Allen’s lawyers left the court room and never returned.

Judge Fran Gull, the special judge assigned to the Delphi murder case, came into the Allen County courtroom and said, “We have had an unexpected turn of events.”

Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi have withdrawn as Richard Allen’s defense attorneys. Their leaving the case comes on the heels of a catastrophic evidence leak from Baldwin’s office.  

The tension in the courtroom was thick, to say the least.  

Many expected judge Gull to address some of the motions filed by the defense team and evidence that came from attorney Baldwins office. Many of the detectives associated with the case over the years were in the courtroom, along with Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett and Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter.  

Superintendent Carter seemed noticeably upset and kept his eyes trained on the family of Abby Williams and Libby German.  

A few minutes before the hearing was scheduled to start, a lawyer representing Andrew Baldwin was summoned to the back hallway.  

It became apparent that something was happening when Attorney Baldwin never entered the courtroom.

Richard Allen wrote a letter to the court asking that his lawyers be allowed to continue with the case 

“The defense attorneys have withdrawn their representation of Mr. Allen,” said Gull to the courtroom. “Mr. Baldwin made an oral motion to withdraw. I granted that oral motion to withdraw, and Mr. Rozzi will be submitting a written motion to withdraw, I’m assuming, in the next couple of days. They have confirmed with the court that Mr. Allen’s financial situation remains static, meaning that he is continuing to be entitled to appointed counsel.”  

Allen’s lawyers have been ordered to hand over all of the discovery back to the state and to cooperate with the new counsel.

Judge Gull did confirm another hearing on October 31. As for the January trial date. That is likely to get moved back several months.