MUM’S THE WORD

Delphi Murder Judge Tells Everyone Involved to Zip Their Lips

Judge Frances C. Gull issued a sweeping gag order after Richard Allen’s lawyers sent reporters a press release arguing their client’s position.

An Indiana judge on Friday issued a sweeping gag order after attorneys for Richard Allen, who is accused of murdering two young girls in 2017, sent out a press release arguing their case to reporters. The three-page missive argued that Allen, 50, was innocent because he proactively approached investigators to discuss 14-year-old Libby German and 13-year-old Abby Williams, who were killed while hiking along a local trail. Allen did not hear from the police for five more years, until he was arrested in late October. The lawyers also blamed local politics for Allen’s arrest and disputed the veracity of forensic evidence authorities say links Allen to an unspent .40-caliber round found near the girls’ bodies. Friday’s gag order warns Allen’s lawyers, prosecutors and their staff, law enforcement officials, court personnel, the coroner, and “all family members” that they can be charged with contempt for commenting “to the public and to the media, directly or indirectly, by themselves or through any intermediary, in any form, including any social media platforms.”