DELPHI — Delphi murders Judge and Indiana Attorney General have filed a response to a petition to the Indiana Supreme Court to reinstate Richard Allen's former defense team and remove the judge.
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Both, Judge Fran Gull and Indiana AG Rokita asked the court to reject the petition due to it failing to meet the proper requirements.
According to Gull and Rokita, the 'writ of mandamus' the petition used to reinstate Allen's former lawyers, Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi and to remove Judge Gull from the case, is inappropriate. They state the proper avenue would have been for Allen to appeal, which he did not do.
They also agreed that Allen, did not express a 'clear and unquestioned' right to reinstate his counsel and that his sixth amendment rights were not violated.
According to Judge Gull , she was protecting Allen's sixth amendment right to having an effective assistance of counsel by removing Baldwin and Rozzi for gross negligence.
Gull stated Balwin and Rozzi compromised Allen's defense for multiple reasons, listing:
1. failing to safeguard confidential case materials
2. emailing confidential work to an unauthorized person and failing to report timely report the leak
3. making extrajudicial statements that were likely to prejudice the case
4. providing false information to the trial court
AG Rokita expressed a similar opinion, stating that Richard Allen's right to choose counsel is not absolute and must be balanced with the need for a fair trial, which Gull argued was compromised by the negligence of his former lawyers.
Rokita also says the request for the court to commence withing 70 days was improperly presented to the court, as well as the request to remove Judge Gull.
You can read both Judge Gull's and AG Rokita's full responses below:
