The prosecution responds to the most recent motion for a new facility for the suspect in the Delphi murders

Carrol County, Indiana – In reaction to the most recent attempt to transfer Richard Allen, the suspected murderer of Delphi, to a different prison, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland issued his rebuttal.

Allen’s court-appointed counsel requested earlier this month that the state relocate Allen outside of the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Carlisle, Indiana. Late last year, Allen was moved from Westville Correctional to Wabash Valley by the Indiana Department of Corrections.

This is the third time Allen’s defense has filed a move to transfer. The request was made by the lawyers who represented Allen after the initial defense team, which included Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi, departed the case before being reinstated.

Allen was detained at Westville since November 3, 2022, and he spent the majority of that time there awaiting trial. Baldwin and Rozzi submitted a move to alter his safekeeping order in April 2023. According to the lawyers, Allen had been given minimal leisure time, was not allowed to see family, and had been treated like a “prisoner of war.”

This ultimately resulted in a hearing on July 19, 2023, where Special Judge Fran Gull declared that Allen had received “treatment more favorably” than the other inmates at Westville. She thought he ought to stay there.

Many of the claims made by Allen’s defense team, according to Gull’s decision, were not substantiated by the evidence that was offered at the hearing. She declared that Allen had received enough facilities and services.

Allen made suicidal remarks after being transferred to the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, according to McLeland. He was “examined by mental health professionals,” who concluded that until they were “certain that he would not hurt himself,” they should not allow him to have any leisure time. After Allen was taken off suicide watch, his recreational time was reinstated, according to the filing.

Robert Scremin and William Lebrato, court-appointed attorneys, submitted the most recent application to transfer, indicating last week that they intended to withdraw from the case.

The lawyers said that a “iron flap” allowed them to communicate with Allen and that their videotaped conversation with their client was captured on camera. Because of the arrangement, they were unable to debate the case or present Allen with evidence without becoming agitated and nearly shouting.

Although the institution doesn’t normally permit in-person visits, McLeland said that Allen’s attorneys were accommodated by having him set up in a special room where they could see one other and exchange documents over a slot.

He added that the only footage from the visit that was captured by the room’s security camera was the attorney’s entrance and departure. Additionally, he claimed that “even after DOC made accommodations for them to do so,” the lawyers failed to bring a computer to present Allen with audio or video evidence.

Claims that Allen was mistreated were seen by him to be “exaggerated and misleading.”

“[His attorneys] are able to meet with the Defendant, show him discovery in whatever format and meet with him in an effective way,” McLeland wrote. “This seems to be more of a motion about convenience for them instead of zealous representation of the Defendant.”

According to McLeland, Allen has a tablet that he uses to communicate with his defense team, and the Department of Corrections set up video conferencing so that Allen and his attorneys could have video conversations.

McLeland wrote that Allen “is being treated far better than any other inmate in the DOC” since Allen had a commissary in his cell while other prisoners did not.

McLeland stated that Adams County, which is closer to the Allen County-based attorneys who filed the transfer motion, could not meet Allen’s request to be sent to a county jail. Allen County agreed to take him in, but the sheriff there stated that due to overcrowding, additional accommodations would need to be made at the jail.

The Carroll County Jail lacked the manpower to transport Allen or the room to house him safely. In addition, the jail doesn’t have mental health counselors or counseling to address “suicidal concerns,” McLeland said.

He wrote “that once again for the 3rd time, the colorful, dramatic language used by the Defense is an attempt to curry public favor for their client and try this matter in the public eye instead of in the courtroom, as has been the repetitive pattern in this cause,” McLeland wrote.

McLeland added that the state had “no opinion” on where Allen should be housed while awaiting trial, writing that the defense had filed a motion “full of inaccuracies and not supported by sufficient evidence” to compel the court to move Allen.

He added that the defense was “consuming the limited resources” of his office with “repetitive motions that lack any factual basis.”