The state's key physical evidence against Richard Allen was a single unspent bullet found at the Delphi crime scene. What the jury never learned is that the first test came back negative.

ISP firearms analyst Melissa Oberg cycled six cartridges through Allen's gun and compared the marks to the crime scene round. According to trial testimony documented in the appeal, she found no match. The direct comparison—cycling to cycling—failed to connect Allen's weapon to the murders.

So she ran a different test. She fired cartridges from the gun, then compared those spent casings to the unspent round from the scene. Different mechanical processes. Different marks. And suddenly, she had her match.

Defense expert Eric Warren called this comparison "apples to oranges." But it gets worse.

The defense had William Tobin ready to testify—a forensic metallurgist recognized by state high courts, with 297 cases under his belt, prepared to explain why the scientific community has serious problems with toolmark methodology. The President's own science advisors issued a report questioning whether this evidence is reliable at all.

Judge Gull excluded him. The jury never heard the criticism. They never learned the first test failed. They only heard the prosecutor say Oberg had "never been wrong."

In this episode, I break down exactly what happened with the bullet evidence, why the methodology is under fire from the scientific community, and what it means that the expert who could have explained all of this was silenced.

Richard Allen is serving 130 years based partly on a match that didn't exist until they changed how they tested it. The appeals court now has to decide if that's science—or something else entirely.

#DelphiMurders #RichardAllen #RichardAllenAppeal #DelphiCase #AbbyAndLibby #Delphi #TrueCrime #DelphiBullet #ForensicScience #JusticeForAbbyAndLibby


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