Prosecutor doesn't want Delphi murder suspect's jurors to see crime scenes in person

DELPHI, Ind. ― Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland doesn't want jurors for Delphi murder suspect Richard Allen's trial to see the crime scenes.

McLeland charged Allen in October 2022 with murder in the Feb. 13, 2017, killing of teenagers Libby German and Abby Williams.

Last week, Allen's attorneys asked for jurors to visit the scenes relevant to the last hours of Libby and Abby's lives , as well as the old Child Protection Services building where prosecutors allege Allen parked his car before the killings.

In an objection to Allen's attorneys' request for jurors to see the Monon High Bridge, the site where the girls were found about a quarter of a mile from the bridge, and the old CPS building, McLeland filed a brief on Friday.

"The terrain where the bodies were found is very difficult to traverse and would be dangerous for the jury to get to," McLeland stated in the brief that asks Special Judge Frances Gull to deny Allen's request. "That traveling to the (site) where the bodies were found and to the opposite end of the Monon High Bridge would involve encroaching on two private landowners' property.

"That it would require a substantial amount of time and resources to take the jury to those areas while ensuring that they are sequestered from the public and outside influences.

"That the areas of where the bodies were found along with the site of the old CPS building are substantially different from the time the crimes occurred."

McLeland noted prosecutors will introduce evidence, including maps and drone footage, of the areas to show the jurors.

"(A)ny benefits of the Jury visiting these areas is outweighed by the dangers such a trip presents to the jury and to the fairness of the trial," McLeland wrote. "(T)he State does not believe it is proper to have the jury view the scene or the other various areas."

Gull published an order Thursday noting she will not make a decision on the defense request pending the state's response, which was filed Friday afternoon and appeared online on Monday. As of Monday afternoon, Gull has not published a ruling.

Last week, Allen's attorneys also filed a motion asking the court to force law enforcement officers to answer questions they had declined to answer in depositions, based on counsel from the Indiana Department of Corrections' attorney and McLeland.

Allen's motion seemed to imply some of their questions about the prosecutor's timeline of events might be challenged if the questions were answered.

"(T)he State believes the information that the Defense is asking the Court to compel is privileged information as it is work product or pertains to communications between the state and one of their witnesses, or it is not relevant to the guilty or innocence of Richard Allen," McLeland wrote in the prosecutor's response.

McLeland's response filed Friday and published online on Monday indicates that the Department of Correction guard and warden who refused to answer questions did so under Department of Correction's attorney/client privilege, which McLeland contends makes such information confidential.

As for Indiana State Police Lt. Jerry Holeman and prosecutor's office investigator Steve Mullin being forced to answer questions, McLeland also opposed Allen's request.

The questions to Holeman about when prosecutors hired a blood spatter expert is a matter of state trial strategy and is work product, which means the defense is not entitled to know the information. Besides, the prosecutor, not Holeman, is in the position to answer that question.

Allen's attorneys questioned Holeman during his deposition about what he and Carroll County Sheriff Tony Liggett spoke about before Holeman's deposition. But McLeland was present during those conversations, and it was part of trial strategy. Therefore, he contends it was not discoverable in depositions.

Lastly, Allen's attorneys peppered Mullin with questions about the prosecutor's timeline if witnesses were mistaken about what they told police. "Mr. Mullin answered the questions that the Defense posed to the best of his ability," McLeland responded. "Simply because he did not answer them the way the Defense wanted is not a valid reason to ask for Court intervention."

Gull also has not ruled on Allen's motion to compel answers from the DOC guard, warden, Holeman or Mullin.

Allen has been awaiting trial since his arrest on Oct. 26, 2022. For most of that time, he has been housed in solitary confinement at two Indiana maximum-security prisons.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Prosecutor doesn't want Delphi murder suspect's jurors to see crime scenes in person