Chad Daybell gets his day in court.
Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2024 5:30 pm
LDS author and fringe cult leader Chad Daybell's day in court begins tomorrow, with opening statements scheduled for 9:00 AM MDT. As was true with his wife, Lori, his trial is being held in Boise because of the potential bias from media coverage in Rexburg. He is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the deaths of his first wife, Tammy Daybell, and Lori's two children, JJ and Tylie.
He was present at Tammy's death, and children's bodies were found buried at his home.
Lori was tried and convicted last year and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. She is scheduled to be tried for the murder of her ex-husband, Charles Vallow, in Arizona next year.
There are two main differences between the trials. The death penalty had to be dismissed in Lori's trial. Unlike Chad, she didn't waive her right to a speedy trial. In the rush to prepare, the prosecution was late in disclosing some evidence it intended to use, and the judge took the death penalty off the table. Chad faces the death penalty.
Lori's trial was not televised out of concern for prejudicing potential jurors in Chad's trial. Chad's trial will be televised.
I listened to a fair amount of the jury selection, which took a week. Unlike Lori's lawyers, Chad's have represented that they will put up a vigorous defense. (Lori handcuffed her lawyers by not letting them pursue a "brainwashing" defense, with Chad as the mastermind.) Chad's lawyer will apparently throw Lori under the bus. He talked a lot in voir dire about the notion that "all that glitters is not gold." It sounds like he will portray Chad as understandably lying about his affair with Lori (who among us doesn't lie?), but that doesn't mean he is lying about murders.
The case is estimated to last from eight to ten weeks.
Hands down, the most in depth coverage of the murders has been done by the Hidden True Crime podcast. https://hiddentruecrime.com Lauren Mathias is former TV reporter who has conducted some pretty amazing interviews with friends, former friends, and relatives of Chad and Lori. Her husband John is a criminal psychologist who prepares psychological evaluations of inmates in connection with parole hearings. They have a series called "Beyond the Veil" that is an in-depth and insightful look at how fringe LDS beliefs metastasized into four murders.
HTC is carrying the livestream of the trial on its youtube channel, as is the East Idaho news. https://www.eastidahonews.com Reporter Nate Eaton has done an excellent job covering the murders.
He was present at Tammy's death, and children's bodies were found buried at his home.
Lori was tried and convicted last year and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. She is scheduled to be tried for the murder of her ex-husband, Charles Vallow, in Arizona next year.
There are two main differences between the trials. The death penalty had to be dismissed in Lori's trial. Unlike Chad, she didn't waive her right to a speedy trial. In the rush to prepare, the prosecution was late in disclosing some evidence it intended to use, and the judge took the death penalty off the table. Chad faces the death penalty.
Lori's trial was not televised out of concern for prejudicing potential jurors in Chad's trial. Chad's trial will be televised.
I listened to a fair amount of the jury selection, which took a week. Unlike Lori's lawyers, Chad's have represented that they will put up a vigorous defense. (Lori handcuffed her lawyers by not letting them pursue a "brainwashing" defense, with Chad as the mastermind.) Chad's lawyer will apparently throw Lori under the bus. He talked a lot in voir dire about the notion that "all that glitters is not gold." It sounds like he will portray Chad as understandably lying about his affair with Lori (who among us doesn't lie?), but that doesn't mean he is lying about murders.
The case is estimated to last from eight to ten weeks.
Hands down, the most in depth coverage of the murders has been done by the Hidden True Crime podcast. https://hiddentruecrime.com Lauren Mathias is former TV reporter who has conducted some pretty amazing interviews with friends, former friends, and relatives of Chad and Lori. Her husband John is a criminal psychologist who prepares psychological evaluations of inmates in connection with parole hearings. They have a series called "Beyond the Veil" that is an in-depth and insightful look at how fringe LDS beliefs metastasized into four murders.
HTC is carrying the livestream of the trial on its youtube channel, as is the East Idaho news. https://www.eastidahonews.com Reporter Nate Eaton has done an excellent job covering the murders.