Lori Vallow is seen in an April 2022 mugshot.
Accused Idaho murderer Lori Vallow signaled that she’s open to delaying her trial in order to face a jury with her husband Chad Daybell. Both stand accused of killing two of her children, and 53-year-old Daybell allegedly slayed his previous wife.
“She understand her right to a speedy trial, and does not want to waive that right,” attorneys Jim Archibald and John Thomas said in a filing dated Thursday [h/t Justin Lum of KSAZ]. “If the Court moves her trial from October 11, 2022, to January 9, 2023, she understands that will give her defense team more time to get ready.”
NEW: Lori Vallow’s attorney responds to State’s motion to continue trial date from 10/11 to 1/9/23.
– Vallow told her counsel not to file for a separate trial
– She has full defense team of 2 lawyers, mitigation specialist & investigator
– Her mental health is complex & fragile pic.twitter.com/fda4Jbdw6x— ᴊᴜꜱᴛɪɴ ʟᴜᴍ | 林俊豪 (@jlumfox10) May 12, 2022
The couple’s cases fell out of sync when the court determined that Vallow (a.k.a. Lori Daybell) was incompetent for trial. The judge determined last month that Vallow, 48, was restored to competency to face allegations of murdering her son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, as well as conspiring to murder her husband’s previous wife Tammy Daybell, 49. Prosecutors, however, soon voiced their intention to seek the death penalty against her if she is convicted.
The state argued that splitting the cases would result in “improper severance” because they were indelibly tied together through the same set of facts. Lori Vallow’s attorneys noted the death penalty in their filing, and they also acknowledged the complex nature of the case.
“She understands that her defense team is spending a considerable amount of time going through the mountain of discovery in this case in order to get ready for trial,” they said. “She understands that the defense team is in the process of identifying and interviewing witnesses for the trial and for the potential sentencing if there is a conviction. She understands the heightened scrutiny in a potential death penalty case.”
To be fair, a “mountain of discovery,” isn’t much of a surprise for a convoluted case stretching back to late 2019 and touching several states. JJ and Ryan went missing on separate dates in September of that year, shortly after the family had moved to Idaho. Tammy Daybell died in October 2019, which authorities did not initially consider suspicious, but they now say that Chad killed her. Days after her death, Chad and Lori got married in Hawaii. They allegedly soon snubbed Idaho cops investigating JJ’s and Tylee’s disappearances. The children turned up dead in June 2020 in property belonging to Chad.
Lori is also charged with conspiracy with Arizona over her brother Alex Cox shooting and killing her previous husband Charles Vallow. Idaho authorities also claim that Cox played a role in the murders over there, taking a shot at Tammy days before her death. But he will never face charges. He died in December 2019 of what authorities called a blood clot.
[Booking photo via Madison County Sheriff’s Office]
