Westerman
By Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal
For The Republic
JOHNSON COUNTY — A Westfield man has been charged in Johnson County for his role in leaking crime scene photos from the Delphi murders.
Mitch Thomas Westerman, 41, is charged with conversion, a Class A misdemeanor. The charge, filed in Johnson County Superior Court 3, was unsealed on Wednesday. Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay is the special prosecutor in the case and will handle prosecution of the case in Johnson County.
Both the 2017 murders of 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German, last year’s arrest of suspect Richard Allen, 51, of Delphi, and his criminal case have been subject to intense media coverage in both Indiana and across the nation. The crime scene photo leak has received similar scrutiny.
The Delphi case
Williams and German were found dead in a rugged, heavily wooded area near the Monon High Bridge in their hometown of Delphi on Feb. 14, 2017. The teens were killed after a relative dropped them off at a hiking trail near the Monon High Bridge, located about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis.
Allen was arrested for the teens’ murders on Oct. 28, 2022, and subsequently charged. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Attorney Brad Rozzi and local attorney Andrew Baldwin were assigned as his public defenders.
Because of the evidence leak, last month Baldwin and Rozzi were removed as Allen’s legal counsel by Special Judge Frances Gull of Allen County.
Both Baldwin and Rozzi have criticized this move and have asked to be reinstated as his counsel. Allen and his new attorneys also filed briefs with the Indiana Supreme Court asking for Gull to be removed from the case as a special judge and to reinstate Baldwin and Rozzi, according to news reports.
Westerman is a former employee of Baldwin’s law firm Baldwin Perry and Wiley, P.C., also known as The Criminal Defense Team. The firm has offices in Franklin, Indianapolis and Noblesville.
Baldwin did not wish to make a comment for this story.
The leak investigation
Indiana State Police detectives began their investigation after being notified on Oct. 5 that evidence from the Delphi case was released to the public despite a court-ordered prohibition. Detectives were also made aware that the evidence had been obtained illegally and began an investigation, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Police were able to obtain the evidence from the creators of a podcast who said they got the evidence from a man in Texas, the affidavit says. After the leak was first discovered, WISH-TV in Indianapolis reported the podcasters behind the Murder Sheet were the ones who received the photos via an unsolicited email.
The podcasters called the police once they realized what they had been sent and also deleted the images, WISH-TV reported.
The Texas man was interviewed and police obtained screenshots of messages between the man and another individual about various pieces of evidence in the Delphi case. Though they are named in the affidavit, they are not charged.
Investigators also interviewed Allen’s former attorneys, Rozzi and Baldwin, on Oct. 12 about the evidence leak. During an interview with Baldwin, detectives learned he was associated with Westerman.
Baldwin has known Westerman for several years and Westerman had previously been employed by Baldwin’s law firm. He is no longer employed by the law firm, but he allegedly “still routinely stops by the firm” to visit with Baldwin and staff, according to the affidavit.
On Oct. 9 at around 4 p.m., Westerman contacted Baldwin to meet with him, and shortly after they met at Baldwin’s office. Westerman reportedly confessed to Baldwin that had used his phone to take photos of crime scene photos from the Delphi case. The photos were in a conference room at Baldwin’s office, the affidavit shows.
Westerman also allegedly said he had done so a few months earlier and shared them with the individual. Police later learned that the individual had shared the photos with the Texas man, who then shared them with YouTube creators and podcasts, according to the affidavit.
Baldwin told investigators that based on the timeline of events, he believed there would have been photos from the Delphi case in the conference room at the time Westerman came to the office. There would have been side-by-side photos that were previously used by the defense team for depositions, and the photos Baldwin described were consistent with the leaked photos investigators had found, the affidavit says.
Baldwin also told investigators that he did not authorize Westerman to take photos of the crime scene photos. Rozzi did not give authorization either, and said he believed Westerman’s actions constituted theft, the affidavit shows.
Special judge informed
Westerman also provided an affidavit to Allen County Judge Frances Gull, who is the special judge overseeing the Delphi case, about his alleged actions.
In the sworn affidavit dated Oct. 18, Westerman said he was at Baldwin’s office waiting to visit him when the photographing occurred. Baldwin was either meeting with a client or on a telephone call with his door closed, and Westerman reportedly went into the conference room to wait. Inside the room, he saw printed copies of photo evidence on a table and took a few pictures of them.
Baldwin did not permit him to take pictures of the photos, was not present and did not have any knowledge of what he did, Westerman said.
An initial hearing for Westerman has not yet been set.
Daily Journal editor Leeann Doerflein and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
