CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. — The remaining attorney left defending Delphi murder suspect Richard Allen is asking that the judge overseeing the case be thrown out, claiming she “ambushed” and “coerced” the defense team to drop out.

Attorney Bradley A. Rozzi, the sole defense counsel still representing Richard Allen in the highly-publicized double murder trial, filed several motions Thursday in Carroll County Court arguing why he believes he should continue to represent his client and that the judge should be recused.

Allen, who is charged with two counts of murder in the February 2017 deaths of Abby Williams and Libby German near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi, has been represented by Rozzi as co-counsel in the case since Nov. 14, 2022.

For the past 11 months, Rozzi and court-appointed attorney Andrew J. Baldwin had been preparing a defense case for Allen.

The suspect and defense team were scheduled to make an appearance in court a week ago, but Allen, Rozzi and Baldwin were not present when Special Judge Fran Gull began proceedings last Thursday in what she called an “unexpected turn of events.”

After a delay, Gull announced that Baldwin was “voluntarily withdrawing” from the case and that Rozzi would submit his withdrawal in the days to come. However, that never happened.

Now, one week later, Rozzi has filed a motion claiming Judge Gull “ambushed” the defense team during a conference in her Fort Wayne chambers last week with allegations of “gross negligence,” forcing Baldwin’s resignation and ordering Rozzi to do the same.

In Thursday afternoon’s filing, not only does Rozzi push back on the judge, calling for her disqualification by the Indiana Supreme Court, he also claims he had no intention of stepping down.

The Logansport attorney claims the judge’s directive, a result of a leak of case evidence from Baldwin’s Franklin-based office earlier this month, would deprive Allen of his right to counsel and further drag out a trial for a case that already took nearly five years to net an arrest.

Rozzi also claimed that the attorneys were not permitted to defend themselves in open court due to the public shaming that would result from the Court’s admonishment of the defense team as prejudicial, damaging to its professional reputations and potentially tainting an anticipated jury pool.

The Defense also claims that the judge has ruled unethically in sealing several pro-defense documents from the open record for public scrutiny.

Allen and his attorneys are due back in court Oct. 31 in Carroll County where Judge Gull anticipated naming new defense lawyers and setting a new trial date.

Rozzi is asking that next week’s hearing be continued as the Court, and potentially the Indiana Supreme Court, considers his latest filings.

When asked last Thursday for any official comments on the record, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland said that he and his team will wait for the Oct. 31 date to make a statement.

For a full breakdown of last week’s court proceedings from inside the chambers, click here. For a reaction to the legal status of the case from a local judge, click here.

Additional reporting by Russ McQuaid.