Richard Allen’s attorneys reveal strategy in appeal of Delphi murders conviction

INDIANAPOLIS — A motion filed this week in the appeal of Richard Allen’s double murder conviction reveals at least two issues his appellate attorneys plan to challenge in their attempts to reverse his conviction and 120-year prison sentence.

“Counsel intends to raise the denial of the Motion to Suppress and the exclusion of third-party
evidence

on appeal,” Allen’s attorneys wrote in the Monday filing.

The motion to suppress deals with the search warrant investigators obtained for Allen’s Delphi home, where they said they found what prosecutors dubbed the “bridge guy starter pack.” That included numerous knives, a blue Carhartt jacket and a Sig Sauer handgun.

Detectives said they were able to tie a unspent bullet found between the bodies of Abby Williams and Libby German to Allen’s gun.

Long before Allen’s trial, his defense attorneys had filed a motion to throw out all the evidence found during the search. They accused the case’s chief investigator, Tony Liggett, of omitting facts and fabricating witness statements in order to obtain the warrant.

Judge Fran Gull later ruled there was no evidence that backed up those claims and declined to suppress that evidence.

Defense attorney John Tompkins, who closely followed the case, said it’s a tough sell but this case is different.

“This is the kind of outlier case where you’ve got extraordinary facts,” Tompkins said. “Most cases don’t have multiple suspects. Most cases don’t have an original theory from the state of two perpetrators, backed up by releasing public messaging trying to identify two perpetrators, and then a massive change of theory when they come in for the warrant saying there’s only one perpetrator.”

Tompkins, however, said the strongest argument from Allen’s appellate attorneys could be on the issue of third-party suspects.

Judge Gull denied the defense’s attempts to introduce evidence that would point to other possible suspects, writing in her order that the defense had failed to show a “nexus” or connection between the murders and other possible suspects.

“Remember, they thought it was two people, and they released sketches of two people, and they asked the entire nation to identify those two people, neither of whom was the eventual defendant,” Tompkins said.

Delphi investigators had several suspects over the years, the most notable of whom was Ron Logan, who owned the property where the girls’ bodies were found.

Logan was such a suspect that police obtained a search warrant for his home and executed it in the weeks after the murders. Logan was never charged.

Investigators had also long theorized that more than one person committed the murders. During one of the first hearings after Allen was charged, Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland repeated that theory as a reason why Judge Gull should keep the probable cause affidavit sealed.

No explanation was ever given for the change in theory.

“The jury needs to understand this was not a single perpetrator theory, and this guy was not the first guy that you wanted to arrest,” Tompkins said.

Allen’s appellate attorneys laid out the issues they planned to challenge in a filing asking the Indiana Court of Appeals to compel the trial clerk to provide exhibits needed for their appeal.

Tompkins pointed out that less than 5% of convictions are reversed on direct appeal.