Idaho Supreme Court to Rule on Life Sentences in 2019 Killings

Lori Vallow Daybell stands to lose three life sentences if the Idaho Supreme Court upholds her convictions on Monday. The court will hear arguments on whether she should keep her guilty verdicts for the 2019 murders of her two youngest children and Tammy Daybell.

Vallow Daybell, who married Chad Daybell weeks after Tammy Daybell's death, faces a potential reversal. Chad Daybell, an author of religious novels, was sentenced to death for the same three killings. The court's decision could alter the legal status of the family's high-profile case.

Defense attorneys argued that the lower court denied Vallow Daybell a speedy trial. They also contended the judge should have allowed her chosen lawyer, despite a conflict of interest because that attorney had represented both her and her husband. Additionally, the defense argued jurors should not have heard evidence about separate shootings in Phoenix.

The children, Joshua Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, went missing in 2019. Their bodies were discovered buried on rural property owned by Chad Daybell. Vallow Daybell has cited doomsday religious beliefs, claiming her associates were possessed by evil spirits.

Vallow Daybell holds separate convictions in Arizona for conspiring to murder her estranged husband and her niece's ex-husband. She received two life sentences for those crimes and has appealed them as well. In Arizona, prosecutors stated she conspired with her brother, Alex Cox, to kill Charles Vallow to collect life insurance.

Charles Vallow was shot in Chandler in July 2019. Three months later, a gunman fired at Brandon Boudreaux in Gilbert, narrowly missing him. Cox, who claimed self-defense for the first shooting, later died from a blood clot in his lungs.

The Idaho Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the appeal on Monday. No date has been set for the final ruling on the three life sentences.