Lori and Chad Daybell will be tried together for murders, in January
May 26, 2022, 2:30 PM | Updated: 3:14 pm
Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow (KSL TV)
(KSL TV)
ST. ANTHONY, Idaho — Lori Vallow Daybell’s trial for murder will be moved from October to Jan 9, 2023, when she will be tried together with her husband Chad Daybell.
A judge granted Idaho prosecutors’ request to join the trials together as co-conspirators in the killings of JJ Vallow, Tylee Ryan and Tammy Daybell. JJ and Tylee were Lori Daybell’s children and Tammy Daybell was Chad Daybell’s wife.
Lori Daybell and Chad Daybell have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Lori Daybell’s trial was set for Oct. 11 but prosecutors filed to move it 90 days so the two accused of the killings wouldn’t have what documents state would have been an improper severance. A 12-page ruling from Steven W. Boyce, an Idaho district judge, weighed Lori Daybell’s right to a speedy trail and continued incarceration against reasonable requests by the state.
The defense team for the mother of two also had not argued against the delay and was only recently assembled and can use the time to prepare her legal defense. The prosecution has been building its case for three years and as in all trials, turns its documentation to the defense to use in preparation for trial.
“The discovery volume is extraordinary,” court documents state. “Defendant’s defense team has only recently been fully assembled and has expressed concerns with the ability to be fully prepared to defend their client in October. The trial itself has been set for a duration of 10 weeks — which further confirms that scope of evidence the State intends to introduce.”
Lori Daybell’s previous attorney was removed from the case in December.
The married couple was named together in a single indictment from a grand jury, and will face charges, and a possible death penalty.
Lori Daybell was deemed by a court not to be mentally competent to face trial but then later was ruled competent. Her legal team, in court records, have called her mental health “extremely complex and fragile.”
Here are the charges Daybell is currently facing:
- JJ Vallow — first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit destruction, conceal or alter evidence
- Tylee Ryan — first-degree murder, conpiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit destruction, conceal or alter evidence
- Tylee and JJ — solicitation, resisting and/or obstructing an officer, contempt
- Tammy Daybell — conspiracy to commit murder
- Grand theft
Chad Daybell was indicted on the same charges, in addition to one count of first-degree murder related to the death of Tammy Daybell, his previous wife.
Lori Daybell has also been indicted on a charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in connection with the death of her previous husband, Charles Vallow, in Arizona.
The Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office said they will give priority to the cases in Idaho as they were filed first, and no hearings are currently scheduled in Arizona.
Boyce previously declined a motion to separate the Daybells’ trials, saying that having the trials together would be efficient, economic and avoid possible inconsistent verdicts.
The Idaho Supreme Court ordered the trial be transferred from the Seventh Judicial District, which covers most of southeastern Idaho, to the Fourth Judicial District, which includes Boise — the state capital and Ada County seat — after Chad Daybell’s lawyers argued he wouldn’t receive a fair trial in Fremont County, near Rexburg.
