Delphi Appeal: What Richard Allen Says His Jury Was Denied

Richard Allen’s direct appeal is not a second trial. It is a challenge to decisions that determined what his 2024 jury could and could not hear before convicting him of the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German. Defense attorney Bob Motta joins Tony Brueski to examine two connected parts of that argument: evidence about another man investigated in the case, and evidence the defense says would have undercut the State’s proof against Allen.

The alternate-suspect issue centers on Brad Holder, who was investigated in 2017 but has never been charged. Allen’s appellate lawyer Mark Leeman told the Indiana Court of Appeals that Holder later posted a rune-like marking on his hand and social-media material the defense believed had similarities to the scene. Judge Frances Gull excluded the theory at trial because Indiana requires a direct connection between a third party and the charged crime. The State says Holder’s work records placed him at a landfill roughly 25 miles away at the relevant time.

The second fight concerns the State’s cartridge evidence and Betsy Blair’s eyewitness account. A State Police examiner testified that an unfired .40-caliber round found near the girls had been cycled through Allen’s handgun. Gull excluded former FBI metallurgist William Tobin, whom the defense wanted to use to challenge that methodology. She also excluded the Blair sketch as hearsay, although Blair testified that the man in Libby German’s Bridge Guy image was the man she had seen.

Bob Motta explains how appellate judges evaluate those rulings: not by deciding which theory sounds better, but by asking whether Gull applied the right legal rules and, if not, whether the error was harmless. The panel has not yet ruled.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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