DELPHI — Last week during a hearing in the Delphi murders trial for Richard Allen, Special Judge Fran Gull announced defense attorneys Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi would be withdrawing themselves from the case.
On Thursday, attorney Brad Rozzi filed a motion to continue his representation of Allen, claiming the court ambushed he and Baldwin, placing them in a compromising position.
Rozzi says during a meeting in Gull's chambers, the court told him to withdraw from the case or he would face "public shaming" by disqualifying him from the case. Rozzi claims the court planned to disqualify he and Baldwin from the case for "gross negligence."
While Baldwin has withdrawn from the case formally, Rozzi is now saying he no longer intends to withdraw.
Along with his filing to retain representation for Allen, Rozzi has asked the Indiana Supreme Court to step in and remove Gull from the case due to Rule 2.11 of the Indiana Code of Judicial Conduct.
Rule 2.11 states in part, "Under this Rule, a judge is disqualified whenever the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned..."
Rozzi claims Gull has removed and concealed defense pleadings including the defense's request for a hearing which would discuss the possibility of throwing out the search warrant of Allen's property.
According to the motion to disqualify from Rozzi, he also claims Gull's complaints about the defense's work included their filings for Allen's removal from the Westville Correctional Facility and a leak of crime scene photographs. Rozzi claims the request for removal from the facility was within the defense's rights and the leak of crime scene photographs were unknown to Baldwin and himself.
Rozzi has also requested that the scheduled hearing for Oct. 31 be continued. A motion that Gull has yet to answer.
