Idaho Supreme Court to Hear Appeal in Lori Vallow Daybell Killings
The court will decide whether procedural errors in the trial of the woman convicted of murdering two children and a romantic rival warrant a reversal.
By Samantha Reed ·
Three life sentences in Idaho and two in Arizona stand as the current penalties for Lori Vallow Daybell. On Monday, the Idaho Supreme Court will hear her appeal regarding the convictions for the deaths of her two youngest children and her husband's former partner.
Daybell is seeking a reversal of her verdicts in the killings of Joshua “JJ” Vallow, Tylee Ryan, and Tammy Daybell. JJ was 7 years old and Tylee was 16. Tammy Daybell had married Lori Vallow Daybell's husband, Chad Daybell, weeks before her death.
Defense attorneys argued that the lower court denied their client a speedy trial. They also contended that the judge incorrectly ruled out their preferred attorney due to a conflict of interest. That lawyer had previously represented both Lori Vallow Daybell and her husband, Chad Daybell.
A third legal argument focuses on evidence presented to jurors. Defense lawyers stated that the trial should not have included testimony about shootings in metro Phoenix involving Charles Vallow and Brandon Boudreaux. These incidents were part of her separate Arizona case for conspiracy to murder.
The children disappeared in 2019. Their bodies were later discovered buried on rural Idaho property owned by Chad Daybell. He is an author of religious novels concerning prophecies and the end of the world. Daybell was sentenced to death for the three Idaho killings.
In the Arizona case, prosecutors alleged Daybell conspired with her brother, Alex Cox, to kill her estranged husband, Charles Vallow. The goal was to collect his life insurance policy so she could marry Chad Daybell. Charles Vallow was shot in Chandler in July 2019. Alex Cox, who claimed self-defense, later died from a blood clot in his lungs.
Cox was also identified by prosecutors as the person who fired a gun at Brandon Boudreaux in Gilbert. Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Daybell's niece, narrowly missed by a bullet while driving to his home. Daybell received two life sentences in Arizona and has appealed those convictions as well.
Source: KIVI-TV · original report published
