When opening statements in the Delphi murders trial take place Friday morning, you will not get to see them.

Despite repeated requests from WTHR and other media organizations, Special Judge Frances Gull has ruled cameras are not allowed in the Carroll County courtroom.

13News wants you to understand what that means for the trial and coverage of the Delphi murders proceedings.

Senior investigative reporter Bob Segall explains why cameras are being excluded from the trial and how WTHR will get you firsthand reports from inside the courtroom.

Gull did allow cameras in the courtroom at one of Allen's pretrial hearings back in late 2023.

But then, things went sideways.

The judge kicked Allen's public defenders off the case. They appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court, which overruled the judge and reappointed the defense team.

Things got very tense — and cameras have not been allowed back inside the Delphi murders courtroom ever since.

If a judge wants to keep cameras out of a trial, court rules here in Indiana give no opportunity to challenge that decision.

"That judge has complete discretion, and that judge's discretion is final. There is no one to appeal to, essentially, in terms of changing this decision right now in this moment. There is no recourse to do that," 13News legal analyst Katie JacksonLindsay said.

JacksonLindsay said it's not really the media that loses out as much as the public.

"What needs to come out of this trial beyond justice for either side is public trust in our system, and having cameras in the courtroom would allow the public to actually see how it plays out," JacksonLindsay said. "Regardless of this verdict, there's going to be one side that's very unhappy, and lack of public trust that comes from this trial in particular is going to be farreaching — far beyond Carroll County — because everyone is watching right now."

Keep in mind, the trial is being held in a small courtroom in Carroll County to give the residents of Delphi a chance to see the trial themselves. But by not allowing cameras inside the courtroom, where seating is extremely limited, Delphi residents will have little chance to see the actual proceedings.

So that's where the media comes in. And here's what's going to happen:

The judge has allotted 12 seats inside the courtroom for media to cover this trial. The media is working together to divide those between print and broadcast.

There will be a random drawing to determine which outlets will get a pass to be inside the courtroom each day, and those passes will rotate.

Two of the media passes each day will go to pool reporters, which means they will brief all media and share their notes with the other reporters, including those who did not get a seat inside the courtroom.

By the way, after the judge turned down 13News' request for cameras in the courtroom, we asked if we could at least record audio, take still pictures, or have a closed feed of the trial sent to an overflow room, so more people could watch.

Gull said no to all of those options.

Thursday afternoon, the media met with Gull, who went over all of the rules for the trial.

13News will be at the Carroll County Courthouse every day, inside the courtroom as much as we possibly can be, to bring you firsthand accounts and team coverage of the trial.

https://www.wthr.com/article/news/cri...