Westerman
As jury selection begins for the Delphi double murder trial in northern Indiana, a local case tied to it has been continued until later this month.
Richard Allen, 52, is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping in the killings of 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German. If convicted, he could face up to 130 years in prison. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
Jury selection began Monday in Fort Wayne. Once the 12 members and four alternates have been selected, they will be taken to Delphi in Carroll County, where they will be sequestered for the duration of the trial, monitored by bailiffs and banned from using cellphones or watching news broadcasts.
If jury selection is completed Wednesday, jury instructions and opening statements could take place Friday morning. The trial is expected to last a month.
Although Delphi is about 100 miles away from Johnson County, the case does have local ties.
Andrew Baldwin, one of the attorneys representing Allen, is based in Franklin. Additionally, a man was charged with conversion, a Class A misdemeanor, after reportedly leaking evidence from the case to someone else, with the evidence eventually making its way online.
Mitchell Thomas Westerman, a former employee of Baldwin’s, is accused of taking photos of crime scene photos that were left inside a conference room at Baldwin’s office. These photos were sent to someone else, eventually being shared by a third person to YouTube creators and podcasts, according to court documents.
Westerman, of Franklin and formerly of Westfield, has since taken part in a pre-trial diversion agreement reached between him, his attorney Michael Kyle and Special Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay of Bartholomew County, which remains pending.
Per the terms of the pre-trial diversion agreement filed in Johnson Superior Court on July 18, the prosecution would be withheld upon compliance with several conditions. These conditions include admitting that probable cause existed to support all elements of the crime of conversion, paying a diversion fee, not receiving new charges for three months and complying with all conditions by the time a compliance hearing took place on Sept. 25, the agreement shows.
The compliance hearing was continued to Oct. 30, according to online court records.
Future coverage
As jury selection continues in the Allen case and the trial subsequently begins, the Daily Journal will be partnering with The Murder Sheet for coverage.
The Murder Sheet is an Indiana-based podcast hosted by journalist Áine Cain and attorney Kevin Greenlee, featuring original reporting and legal analysis. Cain and Greenlee have covered 1978 Burger Chef Murders, where the bodies of the four victims were found in a Johnson County field, and the Delphi case extensively.
With the partnership, Cain and Greenlee will provide written stories to the Daily Journal about each day’s developments in court, which will be published online and in print. They will be attending jury selection in person in Allen County and the trial in Carroll County.
In a joint statement, Cain and Greenlee said they were thrilled to partner with the Daily Journal for coverage of the case.
“This promises to be a very exciting partnership that combines the strengths of legacy and new media,” Cain and Greenlee said. “We promise to bring the readers robust, detailed coverage of this high-profile Indiana trial. … Our goal is to shine a light on the relevant legal happenings and provide nuanced, thoughtful coverage of a complicated, emotionally-charged case that has haunted Indiana for years.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
