Delphi Murders Update (Sept. 2026): What the Judges Asked at Richard Allen's Appeal

The Delphi appeal has now been argued. Nothing was decided on Monday, but the judges' questions show where the hard parts of Richard Allen's case are.

What did the judges ask at the Delphi appeal?

Defense lawyer Mark Leeman opened by calling the case against Allen unfair and unconstitutional from start to finish. Deputy Attorney General Ellen Meilaender answered for the state. Each side had 30 minutes.

Three lines of questioning stood out in the local coverage:

• Allen's jail conditions. The panel pushed the state on how Allen was held before trial. Per 21Alive's account, Vaidik told Meilaender the state had "protected him into psychosis," and Brown pointed out he was a pretrial detainee presumed innocent. The state defended the conditions.
• What's left without the confessions. Judges asked the state what its case looks like apart from Allen's statements. Meilaender called those statements the state's strongest evidence, then pointed to eyewitness testimony and the timeline.
• Re-weighing the evidence. Vaidik pressed the defense too, asking whether it was really asking the court to re-weigh evidence the jury had already heard. Brown framed the whole case as one question: did he get a fair trial?

Our read, and it's only that: the confinement issue drew the sharpest questions. Pointed questions are not a ruling, and appellate judges routinely lean hard on both sides.

The girls' families were in the courtroom, along with people who back Allen.

Why did the court hear argument at all?

Allen's lawyers asked for the hearing and the court granted it in May. Most Indiana appeals are decided on the briefs alone, so agreeing to hear argument means the panel wanted the lawyers to talk it through.

That was a procedural choice, not a preview of the outcome.

What are Allen's three arguments?

The 113-page appellant's brief raises three issues:

• The search. That the 2022 warrant for his home rested on material omissions about witness descriptions, making the search unconstitutional and the evidence from it inadmissible.
• The confessions. That statements he made while held in prolonged isolation should have been kept out, because of the condition he was in when he made them.
• The defense he could not present. That the trial judge's exclusion of his lawyers' alternative-suspect theory left the jury hearing, in the defense's framing, half the story.

What is the state's answer?

The attorney general's office filed its brief on March 26, 2026, asking the panel to leave the conviction untouched. Its position is that the warrant was valid, the statements were properly admitted, and the trial judge acted within his discretion in limiting the alternative-suspect evidence.

When will the Court of Appeals rule?

There's no deadline. Lawyers quoted by WISH-TV put the typical wait at about two months, with a range anywhere from a week to a year.

The court keeps recordings of its oral arguments online at IN.gov/judiciary, and its opinions are posted there when issued.

Could the conviction actually be overturned?

It could, but reversal is the exception rather than the rule in Indiana direct appeals, and Allen has to win on an issue big enough to have affected the verdict.

The realistic range of outcomes: the panel affirms; it orders a new trial on one of the three issues; or it sends a narrower question back to the trial court. Whichever way it goes, the losing side can ask the Indiana Supreme Court to take the case.

There is no deadline for a ruling. Panels commonly take a few months after argument.

Where is Richard Allen now?

He is serving his 130-year sentence in Indiana Department of Correction custody, and he has maintained his innocence since his arrest.

👉 Even a full win on appeal would not release him — it would mean a new trial.

Who were Abby and Libby?

Abigail Williams and Liberty German were eighth-graders in Delphi, a town of about 3,000 in Carroll County. They were dropped off to walk a trail on a Monday afternoon in February 2017 and did not come home.

Libby's phone recorded the video and audio that became the case's best-known evidence. Nine and a half years after that February afternoon, Sept. 21 was the first time an appeals court heard the case argued out loud.

FAQ

When was the Delphi appeal hearing?
Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, at the Indiana Statehouse. The panel took the case under advisement.

Is Richard Allen getting a new trial?
Not at this stage. He is asking for one; the Court of Appeals has not ruled.

How long is his sentence?
130 years, imposed in December 2024.

When will there be a ruling?
No date is set. Opinions in Indiana appeals commonly arrive within a few months of argument.

Sources

• WNDU — Indiana court hears appeal in Richard Allen Delphi murders case
• WISH-TV — Richard Allen's attorneys argue for new trial
• 21Alive — Judge questions state on Allen's pretrial confinement
• WISH-TV — Court to hear arguments in appeal of Delphi murders conviction
• WTHR — Oral argument date set in Richard Allen's appeal
• Fox59 — Court of Appeals will hear arguments in Delphi murders this September
• WNDU — State argues Allen's convictions should stand
• CBS News Chicago — Attorneys file brief seeking to overturn the conviction

More from our desk: the Lindsay Clancy case, where the defense is now asking a judge to end it without a retrial after the mistrial and Friday's 20/20 special, the Kouri Richins restitution order, the Mike Williams case that 20/20 reopened on Friday, Friday's Dateline, and Saturday's 48 Hours. Air times for all three shows are in our viewing guide; the rest of our case files are in Case Updates.

By the True Crime On Air desk · Updated Sept. 22, 8:53 p.m. ET