Lori Vallow Daybell, the so-called Cult Mom from Idaho accused in a triple murder involving her two children, returned to court with her co-defendant husband Thursday after requesting the judge drop her case due to a lack of a speedy trial years after her arrest.
Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, are accused of killing her 7-year-old son Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, her 17-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan and Daybell’s ex-wife, Tammy Daybell, a month apart in the fall of 2019.
Vallow’s argued that the court violated her right to a speedy trial – initially set for 2021 but delayed by competency examinations and the coronavirus pandemic.
“The first trial setting in this instant case was for October 11, 2022, since that was within six months of April 19, 2022,” her defense wrote in a motion, filed late last month. “The government then asked for more time and the Court granted the request and set trial for January 9, 2023. This violated her right to a speedy trial.”
Lori Vallow-Daybell, who is accused of killing her children in 2019 and collecting social security benefits in her son’s name after their deaths, smiled in and outside a Fremont County courtroom Tuesday as her counsel argued to split up her conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit theft charges. (handout)
Fremont County Judge Steven Boyce said he would issue a written order soon and moved on to other issues, according to Nate Eaton, the director of East Idaho News, who live-tweeted the hearing.
Separately, attorneys for Chad Daybell, who previously supported extending the delays, moved to sever his case from Vallow’s.
The couple was indicted in May 2021 on multiple counts each of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception, first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree.
In June 2021, Arizona officials also indicted Vallow in the July 2019 murder of her ex-husband, Charles Vallow.
This combination photo of undated file photos released by National Center for Missing and Exploited Children shows Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, left, and Tylee Ryan, 17. (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children via AP)
IDAHO PROSECUTORS OPPOSE MOTION FROM LORI VALLOW DAYBELL TO HOLD ‘STRATEGY SESSION’ WITH HUSBAND
The children were missing for several months — during which police say the couple lied about the children’s whereabouts and then slipped away to Hawaii — before the bodies were found buried on Daybell’s property in rural Idaho.
Chad Daybell listens to a motion to move his trial during a court hearing in St. Anthony, Idaho, Tuesday, April 19, 2022. (Tony Blakeslee/EastIdahoNews.com via AP, Pool)
The couple allegedly continued to collect Social Security benefits on behalf of the children between Oct. 1, 2019, and Jan. 22, 2020.
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Fox News’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
