Vallow Daybell seeks reversal of Idaho triple homicide verdicts
The state supreme court will hear arguments on procedural errors and unrelated evidence in the 2019 murders of two children and a woman.
By Marco Graham ·
Lori Vallow Daybell appears before the Idaho Supreme Court on Monday to contest her convictions for killing her two youngest children and conspiring to murder a romantic rival. She is asking the justices to reverse the verdicts in the deaths of Joshua "JJ" Vallow, Tylee Ryan, and Tammy Daybell. Tammy was the wife of Chad Daybell, who married Vallow Daybell weeks after the killings.
The children, aged 7 and 16, vanished in 2019. Their bodies were later discovered buried in rural Idaho on the property of Chad Daybell, an author of religious novels. Vallow Daybell holds doomsday beliefs and has claimed that people in her life were possessed by evil spirits. She currently serves three life sentences in Idaho, while Chad Daybell faces the death penalty for the same three killings.
Her legal team argues that the lower court denied her a speedy trial. They also contend the trial judge improperly barred her chosen attorney from the case. The judge ruled a conflict of interest existed because that lawyer had previously represented both Vallow Daybell and her husband.
Defense counsel further objects to the admission of evidence regarding separate shootings in metro Phoenix. Jurors heard details about the fatal shooting of Charles Vallow, Vallow Daybell's estranged husband, and the failed attempt on Brandon Boudreaux, her niece's ex-husband. Charles Vallow was shot in July 2019 in Chandler by Vallow Daybell's brother, Alex Cox. Boudreaux survived a gunshot wound nearly three months later when a Jeep fired at his vehicle in Gilbert.
Prosecutors in the Arizona case stated that Vallow Daybell conspired with Cox to kill Charles Vallow to collect his life insurance and marry Chad Daybell. Cox, whom prosecutors identified as the shooter in the Boudreaux incident, later died from a blood clot in his lungs. Vallow Daybell received two life sentences for these Arizona convictions and has filed a separate appeal against those rulings as well.
The Idaho appeal focuses on whether procedural mistakes during the initial trial tainted the outcome. The court's decision will determine if the convictions stand or if a new trial is ordered. Vallow Daybell maintains her innocence in the Arizona charges while facing the prospect of a retrial in Idaho if the appellate panel agrees with her arguments.
