Attorney for Accused Delphi Killer: “Our client is the wrong guy.”
Lawyers for Richard Allen speak to the media following Delphi court hearing, touching on: Emotions of client & his wife, Kegan Kline, “flimsy” probable cause & shock at prosecutor’s claim more people may be involved (“that’s new news [not reflected in evidence]“).
Full Video & Transcript Below
What Happened at the Delphi Court Hearing?
On November 22, 2022 newly appointed attorneys for the accused Delphi killer, Richard Allen, appeared alongside their client for the first time at the Carroll County Courthouse.
Two issues were on the agenda*:
1. The State of the Probable Cause Affidavit: The PCA (a sworn document presented to the court via law enforcement outlining the investigation & providing supporting facts to justify an arrest and/or search) in this case was sealed by the prior judge at the prosecutor’s behest. This is highly unusual, as PCA’s become public record once the case is filed. Several media organizations joined together, requesting release of the documents.
Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland held firm on the position a doc-disclosure could jeopardize the case, even suggesting there may be other person(s) involved. He expressed additional concern over names of witnesses listed in PCA becoming public, stating some are juveniles and young adults entitled to privacy.
Bradley Rozzi (Allen’s attorney) pushed for a release on behalf of his client, insisting “transparency” was crucial & the secrecy surrounding the case was harmful. He agreed with McLeland that young witnesses should be protected, and simply redacting their names prior to publication would accomplish this. Keeping the documents sealed could also cause procedural hangups: at upcoming public hearings, it would be difficult for attorneys to properly advocate for their client if certain aspects of the case remained under lock and key.
Outcome: Court “takes the matter under advisement” & will make a decision on the PCA’s fate, likely by month’s end.
2. Richard Allen’s Bail: Under Indiana Code § 35-33-8-3.2: Murder is not bailable when the proof is evident or the presumption strong. While Allen currently has no bail, his attorneys filed a ‘Petition to Let Bail’, requesting a hearing & allowing the accused to be released on his own recognizance (or alternatively, that a reasonable bail is set).
Outcome: Set for hearing – February 17, 2023
*Thank you to The Murder Sheet Podcast for attending the hearing and publishing an episode (‘The Delphi Murders: Richard Allen’s Public Access Hearing’) summarizing the morning in court. Their on-the-ground reporting & analysis has been incredibly helpful in detailing events.
Who are Richard Allen’s Attorneys?
Minutes after court was dismissed, reporters spoke with Richard Allen’s attorneys Bradley Rozzi (of Hillis, Hillis, Rozzi & Dean) and Andrew Baldwin (of Baldwin, Perry & Kamish) in the courthouse lobby.
Baldwin and Rozzi are very experienced criminal defense attorneys with impressive backgrounds, and both appear to be held in high regard by their colleagues in the legal field. “[Allen] hit the jackpot with Andy and Brad,” remarked an Indiana attorney we spoke to via email. “Smart, smart guys.”
While by no means an ‘official’ press conference, the impromptu media gathering / Q&A session is transcribed with video below, and provides some interesting insight into how the newly-appointed defense team (and client) are feeling.
Richard Allen’s Attorneys Brad Rozzi & Andrew Baldwin Speak to Media at Delphi Courthouse [Video + Transcript]
[BEGIN RICHARD ALLEN ATTORNEY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT]
ATTORNEY BRADLEY ROZZI: [recording starts mid-sentence] … spend any time with him really, meaningful time, so that’s just not something I can comment on.
REPORTER: What do you think about the prosecutor saying they have good reason to believe that he’s not the only one involved in this?
ATTORNEY BRADLEY ROZZI: Yeah, yeah. Those comments certainly caught my ear. But, you know, again…it’s too early to comment on those kinds of things just because we don’t really have enough information and I don’t think that’s professionally prudent to just start, you know, throwing thoughts around without really having the discovery in its entirety.
REPORTER: Does the PC document reflect that?
ATTORNEY BRADLEY ROZZI: Ah, I’m not gonna talk about that. That’s exactly what we were just dealing with.
REPORTER: Would you just say your name for the record, please?
ATTORNEY BRADLEY ROZZI: I feel like I’m in a courtroom! My name is Brad Rossi. It’s pronounced ‘Rosie’ not ‘Rozzy’ I’m not gonna get into all the nuances. But there are ‘Rozzy’s around too.
REPORTER: So that we get it right, spell your last name?
ATTORNEY BRADLEY ROZZI: R-O-Z-Z-I.
REPORTER: Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
ATTORNEY BRADLEY ROZZI: I’m going to head home. Thank you.
– – – – – – – – – –
REPORTER: [Question is inaudible]
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: –oh, she’s a very good judge. She’s very, very quick.
REPORTER: I know you were down here. What did you think [inaudible]want to read this PC?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Absolutely we want the PCA read. Just like my co-counsel Brad said at the end of the hearing, the prosecutor and the police for the last number of years have been conducting press conferences and asking the public for help. Now we’re asking the public for help. You’re going to read that probable cause affidavit online or wherever they get it. And hopefully, that’s going to ring a bell for somebody to help us out because he is innocent. He has told us that very emotionally. He has thanked us for our help. And, we are anxious for the public to read this. We’re anxious for this thing to get going. And, you know, we’ll see and when you guys read the PCA – presuming that the judge grants our motion – you know, you will have to question ‘is this what happens after five years of an investigation? Is this what it is?’ We don’t have any other evidence, we don’t have any discovery. That’s* all we have [*the PCA]. And we are not impressed.
REPORTER: When you say this would “help” you to get it out… how would it, how would that help?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Well, you never know what what person out there might read something and it might ring a bell. It might cause them to point the finger in the direction of the actual killer. This whole business of two people being involved… the conjecture from the prosecutor today was new information for us. I’ve been on this case, folks, for five… what, six days? So, I don’t know a whole lot. We have not seen the evidence. And I– you know, another person involved?!? I mean, that’s new news.
REPORTER: That’s not reflected in the PCA?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Not the PCA that I read! Not the PCA that I read.
REPORTER: Do you have any information about the potential involvement of Kegan Kline in this case?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: I have no information about that.
REPORTER: Why do you think it is important for the public to see this probable cause affidavit?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Again, I think it’s important because somebody might read something. A line — maybe about a vehicle, or about a person, or about a timeframe – and it might ring a bell. Something that they hadn’t thought of before. And when they read that then they can contact us his lawyers. We’re getting lots of information from lots of people across the country, especially locally. We don’t know what is hoaxes, we don’t know what’s true. We don’t know if it’s a podcaster’s, you know, opportunity to get in the limelight. We don’t know what’s real. But we’re going to look at every single person that contacts us. We’re going to contact them, everybody. And we’re going to figure out if what they know is helpful.
REPORTER: What, if anything, has your client Richard Allen said [regarding how] this has impacted him and/or his family?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Obviously, this has impacted Richard and his family tremendously. I mean, his wife is just a wonderful person and she loves her husband. They’ve been married for over 30 years. They were basically highschool sweethearts. They love each other and she fully supports him, but it is devastating. She’s scared. She doesn’t want to leave her house. She did leave her house. She, thankfully, is in a little bit better place than she was a month ago. But this is all new to them.
REPORTER: Can you say anything about why investigators are focused on your client?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: You guys will read the probable cause affidavit and you may wonder why they are focused on our client.
REPORTER: We have to ask you the fundamental question, and that is, is your client the wrong guy?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Our client is the wrong guy.
REPORTER: What’s the main point that you hope the judge takes away from your argument today?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: We have nothing to hide and, you know, transparency is important in government. It may be weird for defense lawyers, I suppose, to be arguing that we want things unsealed. But that’s how confident we are in our client. That’s how confident we are that the evidence contained in – at least what’s written in the probable cause affidavit – is nothing for us to worry about. We don’t know what other evidence is out there, but we’re confident that whatever is out there is not going to be enough to show that our client did anything here. He’s confused. He’s bewildered. He… Rick, Rick. You guys all call him Richard and he actually goes by ‘Rick’. Rick is bewildered. He is confused. He has no idea why this is going on. How can an innocent man be accused of a crime like this and have their life upended, you know? That’s the kind of stuff that we’ve talked about. The same can be said for his wife. How can this… an innocent man, be charged, accused and basically convicted in the court of public opinion, is what they say. But what I said to him is “there’s plenty people out there that are supporting you”. We’re getting a lot of calls from a lot of people that don’t believe that Rick is the guy.
REPORTER: Should Judge Fran Gull keep these documents sealed? How do you guys proceed?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Well, it’s like my co-counsel Brad Rozzi said: You cannot conduct a suppression issue in public wthout talking about the facts. Tiptoeing around the facts is going to be impossible. That’s another really terrific reason why these documents need to be unsealed.
REPORTER: In America you don’t have to prove that somebody’s the wrong guy. They have to prove he’s the right guy. Could you just elaborate on why you say he’s the wrong guy?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Well, again, I’m early on in this case, I’ve looked my client in the eye, and he’s looked me in the eye and he’s told me what he’s told me: ‘I’m innocent. Thank you for helping me out.’ And we’ll see what the evidence looks like. The PCA, the probable cause affidavit? We are not impressed.
REPORTER: Can you tell us more about what prosecutors said regarding a second person who might be involved?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Well, that was news to us. Whoever was in that room, listening to the prosecutor talk about a second person, that’s news to us. I ‘gotta tell you, I don’t know a whole lot about this case, I’m learning and learning and learning. There’s people that have podcasts and all kinds of stuff that know – seemingly think that they know – more about this case. And certainly, you know, I’m glad that I’m coming in to this case without a whole lot of knowledge about anything. I don’t have any preconceived notions. I don’t like to look at evidence with some preconceived notion of what it might mean. I don’t know what anything means. But this ‘second person’ business, that there’s another person involved? I think somebody heard… I had heard something on the podcast, somebody told me that there’s a podcast or a news article that says something about that? There’s somebody – you mentioned the name of somebody – I don’t know who?
REPORTER: Kegan Kline.
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Kegan Kline. I mean… you may think I’m an attorney, how do I not know who Kegan Kline is? I’ve heard the name. But I don’t know who Kegan Kline is, you know? I don’t know if that’s– that might be the guy that did it, I don’t know. I don’t know anything about anything [laughs]. Other than, you know, I’ve got a guy here who says he’s innocent, all right? And what I would say is, a very flimsy probable cause affidavit. Those are the two things that I do know.
REPORTER: Do you think they don’t want the probable cause released because it’s, in your words, “flimsy”?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: I’m not sure why they didn’t want the probable cause affidavit unsealed. He made his arguments, I guess, and I’ll take him for his word that… the prosecutor is trying to protect people, and I respect that. The second person that the investigation is continuing to go on? Again, that is something new. So, I’ll take the prosecutor at his word, that those are the reasons why. You know, when I say “flimsy” what I’m talking about? I’m a defense attorney that’s handled… I don’t know how many murder cases over the years, I’ve got many pending right now. You expect more than what we saw. We’re not impressed with it. Maybe they’re holding things back that might change my mind later on? And I might have a different opinion, but at this moment in time? You guys are going to be reading it soon if the judge grants our request or denies the state’s request, and then you’ll form your own opinions as well.
REPORTER: Would you say your full name?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Andrew J. Baldwin, B-A-L-D-W-I-N.
REPORTER: And the name of your firm?
ATTORNEY ANDREW BALDWIN: Baldwin, Perry and Kamish.
REPORTERS: Thank you. Thank you, sir.
[END RICHARD ALLEN ATTORNEY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT]
Remembering Abby and Libby
If you’re interested in honoring the lives of Abigail Williams and Liberty German, the families have set up funds to provide scholarships to graduating seniors from Delphi Community High School who have financial need & demonstrate good character, citizenship & scholastic record.
Online contributions can be made through the Community Foundation of Carroll County. In the comment section, make sure to designate the name of the scholarship you would like your funds to be applied.
You can also donate to The Abby and Libby Memorial Park, a 501(c)(3) foundation. The Foundation exists to “celebrate and commemorate the lives of Libby German and Abby Williams by creating a place for the appreciation of nature, art, play and athleticism for generations to come.” The park officially opened in 2021.
