6 reasons why the prosecutor in Delphi murder case wanted court documents sealed

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Newly obtained court documents are shedding light on why the Carroll County prosecutor asked a judge to seal the probable cause affidavit in the case against Richard Allen, the man accused of killing two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana.

Allen is set to stand trial for the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German. Their bodies were found on Feb. 14, 2017, in a rugged, heavily wooded area near a trail just outside of Delphi, one day after a relative dropped them off.

According to a report by FOX 59, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland argued against publicly releasing the probable cause affidavit after Allen's arrest. That request was approved by Judge Benjamin Diener, who later recused himself from the case in November.

Special Judge Frances Gull of Allen County, who was later appointed to oversee the case, later authorized the release of a redacted version of the affidavit in November. The affidavit revealed that an unspent round found near the girls' bodies trace back to a gun owned by Allen.

FOX 59 said this week it obtained a copy of McLeland's original motion to have the affidavit sealed after Gull ruled to make that motion public.

The motion included six reasons why the prosecutor wanted the probable cause affidavit and other documents related to the case kept under seal.

According to FOX 59, the state argued:

That the public interest will be secured by sealing the record;
That the release of the information in the record will create serious and imminent danger to the public interest;
That any prejudicial effect created by dissemination of the information cannot be avoided by any reasonable method other than sealing the record;
That there is a strong probability that sealing the record will protect the public interest against the perceived danger;
That the release of the information might damage an ongoing murder investigation, or;
That the release of the information will create significant risk of substantial harm to the requestor, other persons or the general public.

Also this week, Gull granted a request by the prosecutor to protect evidence in the case from being publicly distributed. The judge ordered that one copy of the evidence may be provided to Allen's defense attorneys and made available to any experts or investigators involved in building his case.

The judge further ordered that no unauthorized parties may have access to that material.

Allen's next scheduled court appearance is June 15.

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