Defense attorneys at the trial of a man accused of killing two teen girls in Indiana nearly eight years ago played a series of videos for the jury on Saturday intended to show the defendants mental deterioration while he was in custody.
The defense had hoped to show the videos on Friday, but Judge Frances Gull barred them until the defense could identify the dates on which they were shot, WXIN reported. That appeared to have been handled by Saturday, when the videos were played for the jury without audio.
Richard Allen, 52, is accused of killing Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, on February 13, 2017, as CrimeOnline reported. He was not arrested until five years later. Prosecutors rested their case on Thursday after presenting evidence — including recordings — of Allen’s 61 confessions to the murders while he was in custody.
The defense, which is trying to get Gull to allow them to argue that a pagan Norse cult murdered the girls, began its case arguing that Allen confessed because of mental illness and not because he’s guilty. Gull has not yet responded to the latest motion about the Odinist cult.
Reporters were not allowed to see the videos, which show Allen while he was in custody at Westville Correctional Facility, although some of the reporters were able to view portions of the footage from about 20 feet away as they were played for jurors and attorneys on a laptop. The reporters described reactions such as “aghast,” “tense,” and a “look of disgust.” They described one juror as biting her lower lip and said defense attorney Jennifer Auger “looked horrified.”
Jurors sighed, and Prosecutor Nick McLeland appeared “taken aback” and cringed at one point. At another point, a juror’s eyes “widened rapidly in surprise.”
According to media pool notes, Allen was naked in four of the videos. In most of the clips, his arms and hands are restrained as he’s escorted by at least two guards. In some videos he’s in a cell, while in others, he’s walking down corridors.
In one, he was taken to another building while strapped in a wheelchair. In some, the reporters said, he appeared to have a hood over his head. He as carried in some videos and dragged in one. In another, corrections officers cleaned and dried him.
The pool notes say that Allen appeared subdued in the videos.
Testimony came from two witnesses in the course of the morning, a defense intern who testified about spreadsheets of videos he created and Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter, who testified that he had “released” the FBI from the case in 2021 and asked the federal agency to return any evidence, WISH reported.
The videos ranged from about 2 minutes to 50 minutes in length and were shot between April and June 2023. The last five played following Carter’s testimony and were finished before noon. The jury was dismissed until Monday.
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[Featured image: Abby Williams and Libby German/Handout]
