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Bob Segall

@BobSegallWTHR

Nov 2 • 13 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X

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13 Things To Know From The #Delphi Murders Trial Today - Nov 2🧵

1. The jury got to see the jail videos we discussed yesterday: 15 camcorder videos taken by guards at the Westville prison. The defense says they show the harsh conditions Richard Allen was subjected to. #wthr

2. The defense contends those conditions caused Allen to be psychotic, prompting him to make 60+ false confessions to the murders. The jury spent about 2 hours watching these videos, but no one else in the gallery was allowed to see them. Theoretically. More on that in a moment…

3. Only jurors got to see these videos bc some of them show Allen naked in different areas of the prison. A large video screen in the courtroom was angled & moved close to jurors to prevent others from viewing the videos. But a few reporters in the 1st row could see them anyway.

4. I was one of the journalists sitting in a seat with a partial view of some of the videos and I compared my notes with the others. While it was very difficult to see the videos clearly because of the angle of the screen we saw & glare in the courtroom, here is what we saw…

5. In one video, Allen was transported to a bldg as he was restrained (in what looked like a chair) w straps around his chest, waist & thighs. 2 people stood over him as he got some type of medical treatment. Then he was taken to a van (still restrained) & returned to his cell.

6. In another, Allen appeared to be lying down & needed assistance from prison guards to get up.
And in a third, Allen was being showered by guards who were scrubbing his head, back & shoulders while Allen’s hands were cuffed behind his back. No audio on any of the videos.

7. The jury was told they’ll likely see more videos next week that show Allen’s strange behavior in his cell – an effort to counteract the 60+ confessions the jury heard bc the defense claims Allen suffered from mental illness when he made all those incriminating statements.

8. How effective were the videos? No way to tell. Jurors did not react much. And I couldn’t see the videos nearly well enough to tell how graphic and/or potentially disturbing the conditions were. Jurors took a LOT of notes so there seemed to be many noteworthy things to observe.

9. Today’s testimony really upset some people in the courtroom – including friends & relatives of the victims. They were angry the defense insisted the videos not be shown to everyone in the courtroom out of respect for Richard Allen and his dignity.

10. They say Abby & Libby did not get that same respect, especially because pictures of their dead bodies, including Libby German lying naked in the woods, were shown to everyone during testimony just a few days ago.

11. Indiana State Police Supt Doug Carter was the day’s only new witness. He testified that he dismissed the FBI from the Delphi murders investigation in Aug 2021. His testimony ended quickly & abruptly after the prosecutor asked for a sidebar with the judge.

12. Sunday is a much needed day off for the jury. Monday is expected to be a heated day of testimony as Brad Weber is called by the defense to testify again. He lives right by the murder scene & testing on his gun came back inconclusive. The first time he testified, he was irate.

13. I might be going out on a limb here, but I think we could have a verdict by this time next week.

Let’s talk some more on Monday.

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More from @BobSegallWTHR

Bob Segall

@BobSegallWTHR

Nov 2

13 Things To Know From The #Delphi Murders Trial Today - Nov 1🧵

1. Today was the first full day of testimony for the defense. They had a strong strategy to counter Thursday’s damaging jailhouse confessions played for the jury. But that strategy blew up in their face. #wthr

2. They called Max Baker to testify. He’s a defense team intern who compiled months of prison video obtained through discovery, including video of Richard Allen in & out of his cell—highlighting his treatment & mental decline. Could have been powerful, but the jury never saw it.

3. Prosecutor Nick McLeland objected to jurors seeing the IDOC videos bc the defense couldn’t verify the dates they were recorded. Judge Gull ruled the jury CAN see the videos at a later date—IF the defense can prove the videos are from the same time period of RA’s confessions.

Read 13 tweets

Bob Segall

@BobSegallWTHR

Nov 1

13 Things To Know From The #Delphi Murders Trial Today - Oct 31🧵

1. This afternoon the State rested its case against Richard Allen, but not before presenting its most powerful evidence. The jury got to hear more confessions — this time, in Allen’s own words and own voice. #wthr

2. To say these recorded confessions were damaging to Allen’s defense would be a gross understatement. Hearing a man saying over & over again that he killed two girls — making the incriminating statements to his wife & mother — is something the jury cannot un-hear.

3. Let me first show you some of the confessions so you understand the words Allen spoke, then we’ll discuss the tone & context — which are both very important. These images represent portions of 4 calls as I tried to create transcripts in real time as they played for jurors.

Read 15 tweets

Bob Segall

@BobSegallWTHR

Oct 29

13 Things To Know From The #Delphi Murders Trial Today - Oct 28🧵

1. Two witnesses today on two important topics: DNA found at the crime scene & blood patterns at the site of the murders.

Jurors heard fascinating, highly-technical, excruciatingly painful testimony. #wthr

2. The first witness Monday was Stacy Bozinovski (pictured right). She’s an ISP DNA analyst who tested dozens of evidence samples from the #Delphi crime scene to see if any DNA could be detected from those samples that would reveal the identity of the killer(s).

3. Bozinovski said she tested clothing; the cartridge at the crime scene; blood found on the girls, on the ground & on a tree; Libby’s cell phone; & items from Richard Allen’s house (among other items) while looking forDNA — specifically from a male. She found lots of DNA but…

Read 15 tweets

Bob Segall

@BobSegallWTHR

Oct 26

13 Things To Know From The #Delphi Murders Trial Today - Oct 26🧵

I was not in court today, so I am passing along these details from my 13News colleague Emily Longnecker. Em sat in the front row today with a media credential. I’ll be back in the courtroom Mon morning. #wthr

1. Day 8 of testimony in the #Delphi murders trial was a short Saturday session with one witness. The State called ISP Sgt Jerry Holeman to testify for the second time. He is ISP’s lead investigator on the Delphi case & he spoke about interviewing Richard Allen in Oct 2022.

2. Holeman testified he interviewed Allen on 10-26-22 at the ISP Lafayette Post, a few weeks after their 1st meeting which led to the search warrant on RA’s home. Holeman said he wanted to ask RA about the new lab report showing a cartridge from the crime scene matched his gun.

Read 14 tweets

Bob Segall

@BobSegallWTHR

Oct 26

13 Things To Know From The #Delphi Murders Trial Today - Oct 25🧵

Some days the jury has heard from 6 witness.
Today it was 1.
1 witness.
All day.
Imagine going back to HS science class for a 7-hr lecture & you’ll begin to grasp what it was like in the courtroom today. #wthr

2. Today was all about trying to place Richard Allen at the murder scene. For that, the State called on firearm examiner Melissa Oberg, who tested the unspent bullet cartridge found by the girls’ bodies & later matched it to a gun found in Allen’s house. She testified all day.

3. Oberg (pictured on the left) told jurors in excruciating detail what’s involved in tool mark analysis, how she tested the crime scene cartridge & Allen’s gun, and how bullets fired or cycled thru a weapon can leave behind tiny, unique markings specific to an individual gun.

Read 13 tweets

Bob Segall

@BobSegallWTHR

Oct 25

13 Thing To Know From The Delphi Murders Trial Today - Oct 24 🧵

Sorry for getting this out late. Long day at the office.

1. Today the State focused all testimony squarely on Richard Allen, telling jurors how they zeroed in on the defendant & why they arrested him. #wthr

2. Jurors learned Allen “fell thru the cracks” of the state’s Delphi Murders investigation, resulting in a 5-yr delay in his arrest. Investigators literally forgot Allen called their tipline 3 days after the murders to report being on the Monon High Bridge the day of the murders.

3. It was a volunteer file clerk who discovered a summary of Allen’s 2/18/17 interview with a DNR investigator that triggered his 2022 arrest. The file clerk testified today, as well as the investigator who conducted the 2017 interview discovered in an old file box.