|
|
Richard Allen’s appeal is based on three key areas.
Attorneys filed Allen’s appellate brief late Wednesday evening. A year ago, Allen was convicted of two counts of murder in the deaths of Abigail Williams and Liberty German. He was sentenced to 130 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections. He is currently serving his sentence in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
Allen’s attorneys are focusing on the search of his home, his confessions made while in the Indiana Department of Corrections leading up to trial, and his trial attorneys not being allowed to present evidence that third-party suspects committed the crimes.
The warrant
The attorneys state in the brief that the trial court erred by concluding former detective, now Sheriff Tony Liggett, did not make false statements or reckless omissions in his affidavit requesting a warrant to search Allen’s home.
“The trial court committed reversible error by admitting evidence seized under an unconstitutional warrant and by denying Allen a Franks hearing. Detective Liggett obtained the warrant for Allen’s home only by omitting and altering witness descriptions to connect Allen to ‘Bridge Guy,’ and by misrepresenting that Allen admitted he wore a blue Carhartt, like Bridge Guy.
“These misrepresentations and omissions misled the judge into believing multiple witnesses saw Allen and his car, when in fact they described someone else and a different car. Once the affidavit is corrected, there is no probable cause,” the brief states.
During the search of Allen’s home, police recovered multiple items, including a SIG Sauer gun, knives, casings, and a Carhartt-type jacket with a white and yellow patch on the front pocket. A cartridge found at the scene between the bodies of Abby and Libby was matched to Allen’s SIG Sauer gun that was seized during the search.
Allen’s attorneys are asking for a reversal or, “at minimum,” a remand for a Franks hearing.
Westville
Regarding Allen’s 61- plus confessions made while being held in solitary confinement while held at Westville Correctional Facility on a safekeeping order, the attorneys are asking the Court for a standard of review and additional facts.
The attorneys state that Allen was sent to a “maximum security segregation unit for the ‘worst of the worst … The movies refer to it as ‘the hole,’ used mostly to punish.”
“The IDOC knew Allen had major depressive disorder (MDD) and was hospitalized in 2019 for suicidal ideation. He received a D mental health code — the second most severe — entitling him to one out-of-cell psychologist visit weekly. During the visits, Allen was shackled and confined in a 3×3-foot cage, separated from the psychologist. Allen had no face-to-face interaction unless shackled or separated by bars. Outside his cell, he was restrained with leg irons, handcuffs, and a belly chain on a lead,” the brief states.
Allen’s attorneys claim that the IDOC knew solitary confinement could worsen Allen’s MDD and even cause psychosis, stating the department’s policy restricts the time inmates with serious mental illness (SMI) can stay in solitary confinement up to 30 days.
“But, IDOC did not apply that policy to Allen, and he remained in the most secure solitary cell in WCU for 13 months,” his attorneys state.
They claim that by January 2023, Allen was expressing paranoia and that his condition worsened once he received the discovery materials from the case.
“Guards thought he was ‘acting up.’ He refused meals, became nonsensical, spoke of ‘old bear claw’ hypnotizing him, and acted like he was from medieval times. He ripped legal mail, washed his face in the toilet, and drank toilet water. He stuck a spork into his genitalia and covered himself in feces, spit, and vomit,” the brief states. “On a video from April 12 (2023), he was naked while he flapped his hands, punched the air, counted imaginary objects, pulled feces from his anus and smeared it into food, and marched in place.”
They say guards repeatedly heard Allen confess to the murders from April to June of 2023, including statements of, “I killed A.W. and L.G.” These were made “amidst bizarre behavior. His statements occurred while he smeared feces, rolled in it, drank toilet water, shouted at his shadow, sang, masturbated, paced, saluted, asked nonsensical questions, hit his head, and asked if he was dead,” the brief states.
Allen’s attorneys claim that the jury did not see video of him in a state of psychosis on multiple occasions when being transported to and from his cell. On one occasion, they say, “Allen spoke incoherently, repeatedly saying ‘there is a God,’ ‘please don’t do this,’ and ‘make it painless.’ With feces on his face, he asked to be euthanized and whether his wife was present. He said he was King Michael, claimed he had started WWIII, tried to save his family and Donald Trump, sang hymns, quoted scripture, and asked to be cryogenically frozen.”
Allen confessed multiple times to killing Abby and Libby during the time his attorneys say he was in a state of psychosis. Those confessions were made to guards, a chaplain, his parents, his wife, and his IDOC psychologist, Dr. Monica Wala.
“The court committed reversible error by excluding evidence that impeached the credibility of Allen’s confessions,” they wrote in the brief. “The court erred by excluding the audio from Allen’s solitary confinement videos.”
They also claim the court “committed reversible error in prohibiting the jury from hearing two phone calls Allen made on April 3, 2023,” and by excluding the statements and behaviors that provided the foundation that Allen’s confessions were not credible.
Allen’s attorneys claim the jury was only able to hear the phone call to his wife, Kathy, where he confessed to killing Abby and Libby, and not the two calls that bookend that conversation. In those calls, the attorneys claim Allen questioned his sanity and the veracity of his own statements.
Third-party suspects
Finally, Allen’s attorneys state in the brief that the trial court erred in denying Allen’s motion to correct errors, excluding Allen’s evidence explaining the murder as a ritual killing, and denying their client’s right to show “the State’s investigation was incomplete, overlooked plausible leads, and mishandled evidence relating to third-party guilt.”
“The jury never heard that, from the beginning, many investigators believed and investigated the girls’ murders as part of a Norse Pagan ritual, and that the usual and complex scene had ‘textbook’ features of such. There was ‘always a discussion’ among law enforcement that this may be a ritual murder and that the sticks were Nordic runes. Also, many officers believed the scene was too complex for just one person to be involved,” the brief states.
They also noted the manner in which the girls died, claiming it is tied to a ritualistic killing.
“Ritual sacrifices often involve blood loss and torture. The girls’ throats were cut, and they suffered a prolonged blood loss, which is ‘indicative of a sacrificial offering or initiation type [activity],’” they wrote in the brief.
They described the crime scene and noted the blood flow pattern on both girls.
“The bodies were lying in the prone position, yet both girls’ faces had blood patterns flowing upward, against gravity, and over their chin and face. Thus, sometime during the murders, a person articulated the girls’ torsos and necks above their chins. It was clear, someone ‘lifted [Libby’s] body’ to create the flow pattern. (Abby) had a similar pattern, which meant her body was also articulated to a position where her neck was higher than her chin,” the brief states.
They also noted blood spatter approximately four feet up on a tree and the lack of DNA evidence found at the scene or on the girls’ bodies.
“Despite testing the sexual assault kit, hundreds of clippings from the clothing, and swabs from the girls’ bodies, cartridge, and cellphone, law enforcement found no DNA from Allen,” the brief states.
In closing, Allen’s attorneys cite Herring v. New York, 422 U.S. 853, 862 (1975). “The very premise of our adversary system of criminal justice is that partisan advocacy on both sides of a case will best promote the ultimate objective that the guilty be convicted and the innocent go free. Because the trial court prohibited the jury from hearing Allen’s side of the story showing how law enforcement went down the wrong path, justice could not be done. The Appellant, Richard Allen, requests this Court reverse his convictions.”
The State now has 30 days to respond.
Loading Comments