The Johnson County case against the man accused of leaking evidence from the Delphi murders has been dismissed.
Johnson County Court Administrator Shena Johnson, acting on behalf of Superior Court 3 Judge Douglas Cummins, approved a motion from Special Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay of Bartholomew County asking to dismiss the case against Mitchell Thomas Westerman on Oct. 23. Westerman, of Westfield, was charged with conversion, a Class A misdemeanor, last November after reportedly leaking evidence from the case to someone else, with the evidence eventually making its way online.
Michael Kyle, Westerman’s attorney, said in a statement that dismissal was the “appropriate outcome” in this case. He also noted that the agreement was entered without Westerman admitting that he actually committed a crime.
“Mr. Westerman did not commit a crime. A dismissal is the appropriate outcome when the accused person did not commit a crime,” Kyle said. “The diversion agreement was entered without Mitch admitting that he committed any crime. Many, if not most, diversion agreements require the defendant to actually admit to committing some crime. This diversion agreement did not require that admission.”
Holden-Kay did not return a request for comment on the dismissal.
Westerman is a former employee of Andrew Baldwin, one of the attorneys representing Richard Allen, the defendant charged in the Carroll County killings of 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German. Westerman was accused of taking photos of crime scene photos that were left inside a conference room at Baldwin’s office in Franklin. These photos were sent to someone else, eventually being shared by a third person to YouTube creators and podcasts, according to court documents.
Westerman had since taken part in a pre-trial diversion agreement reached between him, Kyle and Holden-Kay.
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.
However, the charges were ultimately dismissed on Oct. 23, following Holden-Kay’s motion to dismiss that was filed on Oct. 21. Holden-Kay moved to dismiss the case without prejudice because Westerman successfully completed his pre-trial diversion and paid all associated court fees, court documents show.
The compliance hearing was also canceled, as it was moot.
