DELPHI — The double murder trial for Richard Allen resumed Monday in Delphi, IN at the Carroll County Courthouse. Allen is charged with the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German. Their bodies were found near the Monon High Bridge trail on February 14, 2017.
Expert Testimony from Dr. Polly Westcott
The defense called Dr. Polly Westcott as an expert witness. She is a neuropsychologist who makes $400 per hour for forensic work. She testified she works to determine if people are faking their symptoms of if it is a mental issue. In her career, she has worked for prosecution and defense teams.
Dr. Westcott examined Richard Allen and did a neuropsychological exam. She says that she began by looking at previous treatment records. She reviewed the suicide observers' notes about what they said about Allen. The doctor also said there was an enormous amount of information and video provided from Allen’s time at Westville.
She met with Richard Allen, and she spent parts of two days doing an evaluation of him in in August 2023. On the first day, she conducted a two-hour interview with Allen. The next day was the second session when she did 5-6 hours of tests on Allen. She also said she spoke with Kathy Allen about her husband. Handwriting samples were provided by Allen. She also examined photos.
She created what she called an INE, an independent neurological examination. Her findings say Richard Allen had intense anxiety as a child. She said he told her he was afraid to go to school, was concerned about what others thought about him, was scared of what might happen to his family. Allen told her his father abandoned the family when he was a young child. He also said he had been taking anxiety medication as an adult, and that he had overwhelming feelings of worthlessness. Dr. Westcott said depression comes from anxiety.
Her report said external factors play a role. Those external factors include things that happen at work, fears of failing at work, etc. She learned Allen's wife Kathy was always putting him back together. It was her opinion Allen has constantly been suffering from anxiety and depression -– to some extent.
Dr. Westcott determined Allen has Dependent Personality Disorder, in which a person depends on others to be able to keep things together for their daily life. She said for Allen that person was his wife Kathy and occasionally his mother. She said Allen exhibited constant fears.
She testified Allen was at times in a state of psychosis while in prison at Westville. Dr. Westcott said she found nothing indicating Allen was exaggerating. However, she noticed a significant decline while Allen was in the Department of Corrections custody.
Westcott believes several levels of anxiety and depression –- combined with stressors in jail -- could have led to Allen's psychosis. She said is handwriting was very different — when she compared the first letter he sent to Kathy while in jail to later letters he sent to her.
She also testified that the report put forward by state's witness Dr. Wala was probably not an accurate portrayal of what was going through Allen’s mind. She testified Dr. Wala likely tried to make sense of Allen's non-sensical observations when she wrote her report.
An attorney asked Dr. Westcott if Allen could "attach" to someone other than his wife since Kathy wasn’t there in prison with him. Westcott said, "Not really. You can’t really transfer dependency onto another person."
The jury asked eight questions. One of them was, "If someone has anxiety and depression as a child, can it cause them to commit a crime as an adult?" She said she didn't think that was likely in Allen's case since he tends to be less aggressive, more passive, and more submissive. Dr. Westcott said most of Allen's aggression was to himself, not to others.
Max Baker returns to the stand
The defense called Max Baker back to the stand. The defense hired him to compile video of Richard Allen when he was held at Westville Correctional Facility in 2022 and 2023. Baker was originally called as a witness Friday afternoon, but after numerous sidebar discussions between Special Judge Fran Gull, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, Baker was withdrawn as a defense witness on Friday. The defense team made that choice after Judge Gull decided the video Baker edited for the defense would not be allowed as evidence unless Richard Allen's voice was deleted from clips played in court. Baker made those changes to the video. All audio of Allen's voice was removed before the segments played in court today.
Baker testified he watched and cataloged more than 200 hours of video of Allen from the Westville Correctional Facility. Some of video was captured while Allen was in his jail cell where he could be seen eating his feces. Additional in-cell video of Allen shows him banging his head against the cell wall.
The same male juror who has had difficulty looking at some of the autopsy and crime scene photos of the victim's bodies had a hard time watching the video today. However, courtroom observers said there were fewer shocked looks today from jurors compared to the prison video of Allen that was shown on Saturday in court. Many jurors were busy taking notes during today's presentation.
Even though the video played in the courtroom had no audio, date and time stamps had been added to it. Baker testified that about 200 hours of raw footage of Allen taken in Westville was reduced to approximately two hours to be used in court.
The first video played in court was an hour and twelve minutes. It was comprised of things that Richard Allen did in April and May 2023. The defense attorney who was playing the video chose to fast-forward through about 55 minutes of the video.
The second tape was about 26 minutes long. It showed things Allen did in Westville from May 2023. Again the defense attorney chose not to show much of the tape and fast-forwarded through about 20 minutes of the 26-minute tape.
Family members of the victims were frustrated the video of Richard Allen was not shown in open court. The large video monitor used to show other photos and video was moved across the courtroom and angled so that only the jurors in the jury box would be able to see it. All other courtroom observers were behind the monitor and could not see anything being shown.
During cross-examination by the prosecution, Baker said the clips he received from Westville were originally in 5-minute chunks. He said the defense asked him to edit them into a single clip and then decide what the most relevant portions were. Those sections were the video on the two tapes shown in court today.
Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland asked Baker how much video he watched to edit the tape together. He said it was hundreds of hours. He said he produced videos for Saturday's court session that showed Allen in various places in Westville. There were also the two videos prepared for court today that showed Allen in his cell.
McLeland asked Baker how much direction he received from the defense attorneys. He answered that they left it up to his discretion. He said he tried to provide an accurate depiction of who Richard Allen is.
The prosecution attorney pushed back saying Baker tried to present Allen in a sympathetic way, that he was trying to convince the jury that Richard Allen is the victim. He also claimed the video only showed Richard Allen in the worst situations.
McLeland said to Baker, "Richard Allen is not the victim in this case, is he?" to which Baker answered, "No."
On re-direct, defense attorney Brad Rossi asked Baker, "Did you show these (videos) to show people the truth?"
Baker responded, "Yes."
The jury did ask one question. They asked Baker if the defense attorneys told him which videos to show? Baker told them no. He was given the discretion as to what to pull for the final product.
The defense called several people Monday afternoon, including two who had already been on the stand during the trial. Steve Mullin was called back to clarify his findings regarding the number of Ford Focus vehicles he found in Carroll County and the surrounding counties.
Brad Weber lives near the Monon High Bridge. He appeared as a witness for the prosecution last week. Weber said he got upset on the stand last week because he thought the defense was trying to tell him what he did after he got off work on February 13, 2017, the day the girls disappeared and one day before their bodies were found near the High Bridge.
Weber testified that an officer came to his home later that afternoon. They asked him if he had seen two girls on the trails or near the bridge that afternoon. He said, "No."
He said he also granted authorities permission to search his outbuildings, but that did not happen when they visited his home on February 13 during the original visit.
Two members of Richard Allen's family appeared on the stand briefly. The first was Jaime Jones, Richard Allen's sister. She was asked if Allen had ever molested her when she was a girl.
Jones said, "No." That is contrary to what Allen told a mental health worker while he was in prison. He said he may have molested his sister when they were younger.
The defense attorney asked if she loved her brother.
She said, "Yes I do."
Jones was asked if she would ever lie to protect her brother.
She said she would not.
Richard Allen's daughter Brittany Zapanta also took the stand. The questions she was asked were very similar to those asked of Jaime Jones.
Zapanata was asked if Allen ever molested her.
She said, "No."
The defense attorney asked if she loved her father.
She said, "Yes."
The defense attorney asked Zapanta she would ever lie to protect her father.
She said she would not.
On cross-examination, prosecuting attorney James Luttrell asked Zapanta if her father's appearance changed much over the years. She said, "No."
Luttrell asked if she had ever visited the trails with her dad. She said she did. When Allen and his daughter made eye contact in the courtroom, she became emotional, but she continued to look at her father and smiled at him.
