Richard Allen’s stepfather struggled to keep his eyes open and was heard snoring in court while defense lawyers endeavored to discredit the state’s evidence.
Attorneys for Allen dismissed the only piece of evidence that places Allen at the scene of Liberty German and Abigail William’s brutal murders as junk science on Friday.
Jurors in Delphi sat through seven and half hours of dense testimony from Forensic Firearms Examiner Melissa Oberg as the state sought to convince them that an unspent cartridge found between the bodies of the two girls was ‘cycled through’ a gun seized from Allen’s home five years later.
As the often complex, technical testimony stretched on members of the public struggled to remain alert, including Allen’s stepfather was snored as he dozed off. He was nudged awake, but his eyes were soon closed again.
Marks found on a bullet cartridge taken from the scene are unique identifiers that tie it to a gun found in Allen’s home when it was searched in October 2022
Libby, 14, and Abby, 13, were killed outside their hometown of Delphi, Indiana, in February 2017
Allen, 52, is facing a maximum of 130 years in prison if convicted on all four counts with which he has been charged.
He has been charged on two counts of murder and two counts of felony murder, murder committed during the act of another crime – in this case kidnap – in connection with the murders of Libby, 14, and Abby, 13 who were killed February 13, 2017.
A single cartridge, found in dirt and leaves in the woodland where the girls were murdered and abandoned, is the solitary piece of state evidence that ties Allen to the scene of the crime and his guilt or innocence could turn on what the jury takes from today’s testimony.
According to Oberg individual characteristics in the form of grooves and impression marks found on the unspent Winchester 40 caliber Smith & Weston cartridge taken from the scene are proof positive that it was cycled through the Sig Sauer found in Allen’s home when it was searched in October 2022.
The trail in Delphi, Indiana, where Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, were killed on Feb. 13, 2017
Experts conceded that after testing they were unable to recreate the same marks from the cartridge at the scene, while the defense argued that their search for a match meant they simply tested until they got one
A similar cartridge, the jury learned yesterday, was found in a ‘keep sake’ or ‘hope box’ in Allen’s closet in the master bedroom of his Delphi home.
It was found alongside wrist bands, letters and mementos that seemed, to investigators, to be of emotional significance. It had not been cycled through his gun.
According to the state, marks that can be found on the cartridge taken from the scene are unique identifiers that tie it to Allen’s gun.
Oberg was on the stand for close to four hours during direct examination and the same again for cross examination.
Allen’s father-in-law could be heard snoring. He was nudged awake, but his eyes were soon closed again
Prosecutor’s struggled to have the witnesses positively identify that Allen was the suspicious man on the trail
This afternoon under intense cross examination from Bradley Rozzi, Oberg was forced to concede that she had been unable to exclude other guns that had been tested over the years – though she insisted had she had Allen’s gun the positive identification would have allowed her to render ‘more conclusive’ findings sooner.
She also accepted that she had been unable to replicate the marks found on the crime scene cartridge in six test cartridges merely cycled through Allen’s gun and that the identifying comparison had, instead, been made to four cartridges that were actually fired.
Oberg insisted the only difference between the two processes was pressure, with firing producing more visible tool markings – the lines, shears and particles left by the inner workings of the gun’s ejector, extractor and barrel.
The abandoned Monon High Bridge outside Delphi, Indiana, where Abby and Libby were murdered
Eyewitness Sarah Carbaugh told the court she had seen a ‘bloody and muddy’ man fitting Bridge Guy’s description walking away from Monon High Bridge trail around 4pm the day the girls’ went missing
But Rozzi argued that she as a ‘state designated forensics expert,’ comparing ‘apples and oranges,’ and suggested that the state had been so determined to find a match they simply conducted tests until they got one.
Oberg pushed back but was forced to admit that the findings of her analysis were, ‘Subjective in nature.’
‘Exactly,’ Rozzi rounded. ‘And that’s where the battlelines are drawn between people who believe in your industry and people who don’t.’
