Parts of the defense’s Odinism murder hypothesis will be presented to the jury

Delphi, Indiana – Richard Allen, the lawyer representing the suspect in the Delphi killings, attempted once more to get evidence related to their alternate murder hypothesis shown to the jury.

Attorneys Andrew Baldwin, Bradley Rozzi, and Jennifer Auger requested in a motion submitted on Wednesday that the court “admit certain evidence” that the defense has been barred from putting in front of the jurors.

In a September 2023 filing in support of its request for a Franks hearing, the defense presented a theory that Abby Williams and Libby German were killed as part of a ceremony by adherents of Odinism, a Norse pagan faith that white nationalists had appropriated.

Early in September 2024, Gull decided that during Allen’s trial, the defense could not show jurors any evidence related to the idea.

Brian Olehy, a crime scene investigator, testified about branches and sticks discovered on the victims’ bodies, which the defense referenced in its new motion.

Olehy testified in court that he thought the logs and branches were placed on the girls to hide their bodies.

According to the defense, testimony makes it possible to provide at least some of its research on the Odinism idea. A defense expert testified in August that there were indications the deaths were ritualistic.

These indicators included placing sticks and making runes on trees with blood. As early as two days after the girls were discovered dead, police looked into the Odinism angle, according to the petition.

During testimony on the crime scene earlier this week, jurors and court observers noticed the sticks and branches on the girls’ bodies. The defense said that Allen had the right to provide a different explanation while the state provided its own.

Furthermore, the defense stated in the motion that “a reasonable person could believe that the sticks were formed into some pattern/arrangement and weren’t being used to conceal the bodies because they appear to be arranged in a pattern/arrangement or (at the very least) using a person’s own eyes.”

Additionally, the defense cited blood on a tree. Seven years after the murder, the state used blood spatter evidence to support its testimony. Allen has the constitutional right to summon his own expert to refute that testimony, according to the defense.

The defense is requesting that the state’s testimony on the sticks and branches be refuted, that the state’s blood spatter expert’s testimony be countered, and that the court provide an alternate explanation to “any confused juror” who might have doubts about the arrangement of the sticks and branches.