Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell will be tried for murder together

St. ANTHONY, Idaho — A judge denied a request from Chad Daybell’s attorney to sever his murder trial from his wife’s murder trial.

The ruling set the stage for the two to be tried simultaneously next year for the murders of Lori Vallow Daybell’s children.

Chad’s lawyers argued the two cases should be separated, saying their version of the facts would be different from his wife’s.

In the end, the judge disagreed and said since the same witnesses and evidence will be used during a single trial, it will eliminate the “unjustifiable expense” of two trials.

In late May, 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 Vallow Daybell’s children, and Tammy Daybell was Chad’s wife.

The question of Vallow’s competency has also been in out of court in the past several months. On Tuesday, the judge ruled for a second time that she had been found competent and fit to stand trial.

The ruling also meant that court proceedings could resume.

This week’s ruling on her competency followed a decision last week from the judge to put the trial on indefinite hold after defense attorneys raised concerns about her competency.

Vallow’s legal team, in court records, called her mental health “extremely complex and fragile.” Last April, Boyce issued an order that said Vallow was competent for trial.

The judge has not set a new date for the trial.