INDIANAPOLIS (Scripps News Indianapolis) — Attorneys for Richard Allen filed a motion this week to have criminal charges dismissed on a basis of destroyed evidence.
Richard Matthew Allen has been arrested and faces two counts of felony murder in connection with the 2017 killings of Abby Williams and Libby German. (Indiana State Police)
Allen was arrested in October 2022 and charged with two counts of murder in the February 2017 deaths of Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi.
This week’s motion claims someone destroyed multiple interviews recorded between February 14-20, 2017. These interviews, according to the defense, could play a vital role in proving Allen’s innocence.
According to court documents, on January 31, 2024, the prosecuting team provided the defense with a file of discovery. In this list, the defense found the following note:
“Due to a DVR program error discovered on 9-20-2017 all recordings up to February 20th 2017, were recorded over. There is no detectible audio found on this drive.”
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The motion filed Wednesday claims someone destroyed “exculpatory evidence” in the case against Allen for the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German.
The defense team is requesting the case be dismissed against Allen due to their inability to receive all documentation needed to defend him.
Also filed this week was an order from Special Judge Fran Gull, denying the defense’s request that she recuse herself from the case.
In her order, Gull sides with the Indiana Supreme Court’s decision in January.
A hearing in this case is currently scheduled for Feb. 12 in Allen County.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Indianapolis, an E.W. Scripps Company.
