Delphi murder suspect's attorneys defend against contempt allegations
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The Delphi murder suspect's attorneys defended themselves against charges of contempt of court Monday.
Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi, who represent Richard Allen, were themselves represented by David Hennessy, who filed a series of prehearing motions, including motions for the prosecutor to recuse himself, motions for Special Judge Frances Gull to recuse herself and motions to postpone Monday's hearing.
All were denied.
Baldwin and Rozzi have been accused of violating a gag order with a news release they published, Dec. 1, 2022. Hennessy pointed out the judge's court order barring comments from attorneys or witnesses came Dec. 2, 2022, a day after the release. Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland requested the gag order Nov. 22, 2022.
Also at issue was the leak of photos showing Libby German's and Abby Williams' bodies as they were found by police on Feb. 14, 2017. Hennessy claims that a former associate of Baldwin's took photographs of the crime scene while visiting Baldwin's office in Franklin.
In the afternoon session of the hearing, Hennessy presented several attorneys who described using a conference room as a "war room" in which they planned trial strategy. It is common, they testified, to lay out all the photos and evidence that likely would be presented to jurors.
It was just such a setting that Baldwin had laid out in his office when a trusted former associate, Mitch Westerman, took photographs of the crime scene that later were were leaked, according to testimony.
McLeland's witnesses tied the leak back to Westerman and another man who later died by suicide. Westerman faces a misdemeanor charge of criminal conversions for taking photographs of the crime scene photos. His case is pending in Johnson County.
Monday morning, McLeland showed that Baldwin mistakenly emailed documents to a person not affiliated with the case. Baldwin emailed the man who received the documents and told him to delete the file, but it appears from testimony that the man did not comply.
Hennessy's afternoon witnesses of experienced lawyers all said they've mistakenly sent emails to the wrong person and mistakenly received emails intended for another person. None of the lawyers considered it a serious enough breach to inform the prosecutor or judge.
However, upon learning that Baldwin mistakenly sent an email with discovery from Richard Allen's case to a person not associated with the case, Rozzi notified McLeland and Gull.
Gull will rule at a later date whether to hold Baldwin and Rozzi in contempt for the leaks of information.
Meanwhile, juror questionnaires were sent out last week for Allen's trial, which is scheduled to begin in May.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Delphi murder suspect's attorneys defend against contempt allegations
