13 Things To Know From The #Delphi Murders Trial Today - Oct 26
I was not in court today, so I am passing along these details from my 13News colleague Emily Longnecker. Em sat in the front row today with a media credential. I’ll be back in the courtroom Mon morning. #wthr
1. Day 8 of testimony in the #Delphi murders trial was a short Saturday session with one witness. The State called ISP Sgt Jerry Holeman to testify for the second time. He is ISP’s lead investigator on the Delphi case & he spoke about interviewing Richard Allen in Oct 2022.
2. Holeman testified he interviewed Allen on 10-26-22 at the ISP Lafayette Post, a few weeks after their 1st meeting which led to the search warrant on RA’s home. Holeman said he wanted to ask RA about the new lab report showing a cartridge from the crime scene matched his gun.
3. Holeman said he reminded Allen of his Miranda rights but did not reread them. He told Allen he was free to leave at any time; no locks on the door. He told jurors he had no plans to arrest RA & said Allen started out calm, but got agitated the more he was asked about his gun.
4. Holeman said he asked Allen about his “concerning” comment 2 wks earlier during a search warrant when RA told him: “It doesn’t matter. It’s over.”
“He said the damage was done. We had interviewed his neighbors & coworkers & everyone thought he did it….We ruined his life.”
5. Then during the interview, the ISP Sgt lied to Allen. Holeman told Allen police have an expert who can ID him from the video on Libby’s cell phone.
Holeman: “He kept telling me there’s no way that’s his bullet. No way that bullet came from his gun.”
6. Holeman told jurors Allen could not explain the cartridge but denied involvement in the murders 20-25 x during questioning. RA told him “I’m not going to tell you something I didn’t do. I don’t care what you do to me. I’m not going to tell you I did something I didn’t do.”
7. Holman said RA got more agitated & things got heated as interview continued. “He indicated he was pissed off and said he didn’t
do it.”
Holeman told jurors to speak RA’s language, he then cussed back.
He testified RA never changed his answer on the gun & cartridge.
8. Holeman said he then let Allen’s wife into the room & Holeman left to observe them.
Said RA told his wife “All you have to do is ask for a lawyer and they have to let you go. Don’t worry about me.”
Later, “I told him that his wife and I didn’t think he was a bad person.”
9. During his testimony, Holeman told jurors he has training on spotting when someone is being deceptive and Allen’s cues during the interview were “very minor, very subtle, nothing obvious.”
He said Allen touched his face, which is one possible sign of deception.
10. Holeman said late in the interview, Allen told him “Take all your evidence and just arrest me.”
So Holeman left & consulted other investigators and they decided to detain him.
“We felt we had enough evidence to establish probable cause,” he told jurors.
11. During cross exam, defense atty Andy Baldwin asked Holeman why the start of the interview was not on video.
He also asked Holeman about lying to RA about having an expert who could ID him & telling RA “I’m not lying to you, Rick. It would be unethical.”
But he was lying.
12. Baldwin also asked Holeman if investigators sent the unspent cartridge to an independent lab to see if that lab came to the same conclusions as the state police firearms expert.
Holeman said no.
He also pointed out that between 2017 and 2022 RA never sold his car & gun.
13. Jurors will see video of Holeman’s interviews w Allen next week. Tomorrow is a much-needed day off for the jury after a grueling week of testimony.
Thanks for reading. And thank you @EmilyWTHR for the detailed courtroom notes.
I’ll have another update for you Monday night.
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