ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. — Fran Gull, the Allen County Judge specially assigned to oversee the 2017 Delphi double murders case against Richard Allen, has not been handling her recent caseload amidst health issues and hospitalizations.
According to a statement sent to FOX59/CBS4 by an Allen Superior Court official, Judge Gull has been working from home recently following a hospital stay where she received treatment for an urgent medical condition.
The statement, which was sent Tuesday by Allen Court administrator John McGauley, said that Judge Gull consulted with a doctor on Nov. 2, 2023, after feeling sick for several days. The judge had met with attorneys in the Delphi case just two days prior on Oct. 31.
“Her doctor concluded that she required treatment for an urgent medical condition,” McGauley’s statement read. “Judge Gull was subsequently admitted to a Fort Wayne hospital for inpatient treatment for several days.”
The statement also said that other Allen County judges and colleagues had been helping handle Gull’s caseload since the hospitalization.
“Since then, she has been working from home in coordination with her Allen Superior Court colleagues,” the statement read. “Her fellow Criminal Division Judges are handling Judge Gull’s court calendar temporarily until she returns to the office, which she expects to be soon.”
It was not, however, clarified whether others have been handling casework from the Delphi murders case against Richard 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.
While the murders and Allen’s arrest occurred in Carroll County, Judge Gull was specially assigned out of Allen County to handle the highly publicized case.
Since being assigned to the case, Gull has encountered numerous legal battles and challenges, which have included evidence leaks, trial pushbacks, the withdrawal of Allen’s original defense team and calls in the Indiana Supreme Court for her to be thrown off of the case.
