Lori Vallow Daybell is asking for a new trial.
The 49-year-old mother – whose children’s disappearance and marginal religious beliefs have drawn national attention – was found guilty by a 12-person jury of the murders of two of her children two weeks ago. The trial ended in mid-May after six weeks and just under seven hours of deliberations.
Vallow Daybell, who moved to Idaho from Arizona in the summer of 2019, was also convicted of four additional crimes, including three of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder charges for the children, Tylee Ryan, 16 years old, and JJ, 7 years old. Vallow and Tammy Daybell, then wife of Vallow Daybell’s husband. She was also convicted of robbery for continuing to collect Social Security and child care benefits after their deaths.
Chad Daybell, Vallow Daybell’s husband, is also charged with more than half a dozen crimes related to the murders of JJ, Tylee and Tammy Daybell. A date for his trial has not been set, but it is expected to take place next year.
In the motion for a new trial, attorneys for Vallow Daybell said one of the jurors was aware of evidence that was not presented at trial. The motion also said that the instructions given to the jurors were confused.
In addition to the charges against Idaho, authorities said they believe Vallow Daybell, along with her brother Alex Cox, conspired to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. In July 2019 — about two months before the children disappeared — Cox shot and killed Charles Vallow in Chandler, Arizona.
Cox, who died in December 2019, initially told police he shot Charles Vallow in self-defense, but Vallow Daybell has now been charged with a felony for conspiracy to murder Charles Vallow. She was also charged with conspiracy to commit first degree murder in the attempted shooting of the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell’s niece, Brandon Boudreaux.
Jim Archibald and John Thomas, attorneys for Vallow Daybell, refer to an East Idaho News interview with Saul Hernandez, or Juror #8. some things, there might not have been a trial in Idaho.
East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton in the interview then asked Hernandez if he was referring to after Charles Vallow was shot, to which Hernandez replied “before and after.”
Eaton then responds that Hernandez is right and refers to body camera footage of Charles Vallow in January 2019 – seven months before he was killed – where he tells the Gilbert Police Department that Vallow Daybell “lost his reality” and that he was worried about Tylee and JJ’s safety.
The motion argued that Hernandez’s comment about the Arizona police was not part of the evidence presented at trial — which it was — but that Hernandez and Eaton refer to it in the interview. Hernandez during the interview doesn’t specifically mention the footage but shakes his head slightly in agreement when Eaton mentions it.
The interview took place on May 17, five days after the verdict. Although jurors were not allowed to read or watch news related to Vallow Daybell during the trial, nothing prevented them from researching the case after reaching a verdict and the trial ending. ended.
“We can only conclude that the juror relied on information not presented in court to reach their conclusion that Arizona dropped the ball and should have done more, even before Charles Vallow was shot down by Alex. Cox,” the query says.
Defense lawyer says juror’s instructions are confusing
During the interview, Hernandez also said that “it was clear” to the jurors that the Arizona-related testimony and evidence was for “demonstrative purposes only.” But, in the motion, the defense pointed out that any evidence regarding Arizona was not admitted for demonstrative purposes, but rather to show that any alleged crime was aimed at the prosecution’s ability to prove “motive, expediency or intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, non-error or non-accident.
The evidence cannot be admitted “to prove a person’s character,” according to Idaho rules of evidence.
“To confuse demonstrative evidence with evidence of morality is easy to do; therefore, the defense objections should have been sustained,” Vallow Daybell’s attorneys wrote in the motion. Vallow Daybell’s defense team objected to several witnesses who spoke about Charles Vallow’s death as well as the attempted shooting of Boudreaux throughout the trial.
The motion also cited two additional reasons why Vallow Daybell’s conviction should be overturned and she should be given a new trial. Vallow Daybell’s attorneys in the motion alleged that the court “misdirected the jury” about the law in relation to the three conspiracy charges. In the indictment, prosecutors alleged that the Daybells, Cox and “other co-conspirators, known and unknown” conspired to kill the children and Tammy Daybell.
But at trial, the government alleged the conspiracy was only between two people: the Daybells, Vallow Daybell and his brother, or Chad Daybell and Cox.
“Having the government and the court allow a conspiracy of only two people instead of five was prejudicial and illegal, and should require a new trial,” the motion reads.
The motion added that the jury was again misguided because the court allowed the prosecution to amend the indictment nearly two years after it was filed.
The prosecution will have the opportunity to file an objection to the motion, and then Judge Boyce can schedule a hearing. Vallow Daybell is scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. July 31 at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho.