Fishers, Indiana – A man has been arrested for allegedly leaking disturbing crime scene photos related to the Delphi murder case to the public. Mitchell Westerman, 41, has been charged with one count of conversion for allegedly taking photos of sensitive evidence from the 2017 Delphi murders case and sharing them online. The suspect allegedly obtained the evidence while visiting his friend and former co-worker, attorney Andrew Baldwin, who was part of the original defense team for accused Delphi killer Richard Allen.
Westerman is accused of taking photos of the evidence after discovering them in Baldwin’s conference room and later sending them to a man in Fishers, who then shared them with an individual in Texas. The leaked photos were subsequently posted on various online platforms. The leak led to a delay of Allen’s trial by ten months, prompting Baldwin’s team to withdraw from the case due to the “gross negligence” over the pictures being leaked to the public.
According to court documents, Westerman claimed he was not given permission by Baldwin to take photographs of the evidence and was not in the conference room at the time. In response to the allegations, lawyers Kevin Greenlee and Aine Cain, who run The Murder Sheet podcast, stated that they received the disturbing scene photos from a source and promptly notified the police.
The leak of the crime scene photos has raised concerns about the potential impact on the trial and evidence. As a result, there have been changes in Allen’s defense team and appeals for trial postponement due to the need for additional time to review the evidence. The new date for the high-profile murder case is scheduled for October 15-31, 2024.
The Delphi murder case involves the killings of 14-year-old Liberty ‘Libby’ German and her friend, 13-year-old Abigal ‘Abby’ Williams, who went missing while hiking through Indiana’s Delphi Historic Trails in February 2017. The bodies of the two girls were discovered the next day, leading to a lengthy investigation that ultimately led to Allen’s arrest in 2022 on two charges of murder. He has denied involvement, and his defense team has raised alternate theories about the killings.
The leaked crime scene photos have sparked a legal and ethical debate about the handling of sensitive evidence in high-profile cases, emphasizing the need for strict protocols to prevent unauthorized dissemination. The implications of the leak on the fairness of the trial and the integrity of the evidence continue to be a subject of legal scrutiny.
In light of the ongoing developments, the public’s access to and sharing of sensitive crime scene evidence has raised ethical, legal, and practical considerations, prompting a reevaluation of existing safeguards for the handling of such evidence.