FORT WAYNE, Ind. (NewsNation) — The judge overseeing the trial of Richard Allen, who is accused of killing two teenage girls in 2017 in Delphi, Indiana, will consider two key issues Tuesday: the trial’s length and what terms might be banned during jury selection.
The hearing was set to begin at 9 a.m. ET.
How long will the trial last?
Allen’s trial over the deaths of 13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German is set to start Monday with jury selection.
The prosecution has a list of 118 witnesses, and the defense expects an additional 70 witnesses.
The trial is expected to last about three weeks; however, the defense argues that’s not enough time to ensure Allen gets a fair trial.
The defense is expected Tuesday to ask the judge to expand the length of the trial.
No cameras will be allowed in the courtroom for the trial.
What terms do prosecutors want banned?
The prosecution is expected to argue that certain terms and names should be banned for the defense team during jury selection.
Prosecutors claim that the defense could attempt to indoctrinate the jury with the use of certain terms and names. The terms include “Odinism,” “cult,” “ritualistic killing” and certain names of people and witnesses listed in court documents throughout the investigation.
NewsNation reached out to the defense and prosecution for comment on Tuesday’s hearing but has not heard back.
Allen made ‘confessions’ to inmates, guards
Williams and German went missing during a walk along the Delphi Historic Trail, and their bodies were found in February 2017 in a rugged area near the trial. It was years later, in October 2022, that Allen was arrested.
Previous reports have detailed how Allen reportedly admitted to killing the girls during a prison phone call to his wife, but his attorneys have repeatedly claimed Allen was under physical and mental duress at the time and his statements couldn’t be trusted.
However, this wasn’t the only time Allen made “incriminating statements.” A new filing reveals that Allen also reportedly made further “confessions” to guards and inmates during his stay at Westville Correction Facility.
Allen’s attorneys are pushing for these “confessions” to be suppressed, stating in their latest motion that the poor conditions Allen was kept in compounded his deteriorating mental health state. The defense attorneys said these so-called “confessions” were the result of “psychological and mental coercion illegally directed against the Defendant” and therefore were “involuntarily given.”
Allen’s attorneys said their client was kept on “suicide watch” during the majority of his stay at Westville prison and that he was exposed to “some of the harshest conditions that even the most heinous of convicted offenders have not endured.”
It should be noted that a judge felt that Allen was being treated better than most inmates during his stay at Westville.
