Because they believe the indictment is unclear, the attorneys for a woman accused of planning to murder her children in Idaho and steal their social security benefits requested a court to remand the case to a grand jury on Tuesday.
Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17, were killed, and Lori Vallow Daybell and her husband Chad Daybell have pled not guilty to charges of murder, conspiracy, and grand larceny. If found guilty, they risk receiving the death sentence.
The conspiracy allegations against Vallow Daybell, according to his counsel, were strangely worded and intended to perplex a jury during a hearing in the eastern Idaho town of St. Anthony.
Prosecutors allege that the pair intended to murder Vallow Daybell’s daughter and take the social security payments the girl was getting as a result of her father’s death.
This is one of the conspiracy allegations. The same accusations are made in relation to her son’s death in the second conspiracy indictment.
According to the defence team for Vallow Daybell, the case would be sent back to the grand jury so that the charges may be changed.
Defense lawyer John Thomas said, “The conspiracy to commit murder and the plot to conduct grand theft are two independent conspiracies. We think it would be difficult for a jury to determine which requirements were satisfied, when they were satisfied, and to what degree they were satisfied.
Otherwise, the lawsuit will be “fundamentally unjust,” Thomas said.
I’ve been practising law for 20 years, and this specific accusation bewildered me. I’m not saying the jury isn’t intelligent enough to go through that, he said.
The conspiracy charges, said to prosecuting attorney Rob Wood, are straightforward since they merely describe a “criminal agreement.”
One was to kill Tylee Ryan and take the social security money that was assigned to her, and the other was to kill JJ Vallow and take the social security money that was assigned to him, according to Wood.
“We think the jury will decide that there was an arrangement and that they consented to commit these two offences,” the prosecution said.
Chad Daybell skipped the hearing on Tuesday. Vallow Daybell spent much of the hour-long meeting with a scowl on his face, but there were other times when he grinned. She sometimes seemed as if she was mocking or laughing at the prosecutor’s legal defences.
Judge Steven Boyce said that he will weigh the evidence and reach a conclusion later.
After extended family members reported the Daybell children missing in November 2019, Idaho law enforcement officials began looking into the case.
Police claim the pair made up lies regarding the location of the kids throughout that time. Later, buried on Chad Daybell’s ranch in secluded Idaho, their remains were discovered.
Just two weeks after the untimely death of Chad Daybell’s first spouse, Tammy Daybell, he wed Lori Daybell. The reason of Tammy Daybell’s death was first given as natural causes, but when Chad Daybell swiftly remarried, detectives became suspicious and had her corpse exhumed.
In Arizona, Lori Vallow Daybell is also accused of planning to kill someone in connection with the death of her ex-husband. Alex Cox, the brother of Lori Daybell, shot and murdered Charles Vallow, claiming it was in self-defense. Cox subsequently passed away from natural causes, according to the police.
While the Idaho case is ongoing, the Arizona legal processes remain on pause, and Vallow Daybell has not been scheduled to enter a plea in the Arizona case.
The five adult children of Chad Daybell, each of whom believes their father is innocent, came forward to “48 Hours” last year for the first time as a group.
“48 Hours” contributor Jonathan Vigliotti was informed by Emma Murray, “My father needs someone to be a voice for him. “To share with others what we know to be true.”
Lori Vallow, according to Murray, “fooled in the worst, most deadly way possible” her father.