Lori Vallow Daybell files notice of appeal in murder case
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ST. ANTHONY — Lori Vallow Daybell’s attorney has filed an appeal and is asking the Idaho Supreme Court to examine her case, guilty verdict and sentence.
Daybell was ordered to life in prison without parole in July for killing her two youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, as well as conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, her fifth husband’s then-wife.
In a notice of appeal filed Thursday, Jim Archibald, Daybell’s lawyer, asked the Supreme Court to consider 16 issues, including:
- Whether District Judge Steven Boyce erred in finding Daybell competent for trial after she spent 10 months in a mental hospital
- Whether Boyce erred in denying Archibald’s request to send Daybell back to the mental hospital rather than proceeding to trial
- Whether Daybell’s constitutional rights to a speedy trial were violated by the prosecutor’s requests for continuances
- Whether Boyce erred when he allowed prosecutors to present evidence of crimes in the pending Arizona case concerning the death of Charles Vallow (Daybell’s fourth husband) and the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux (Daybell’s former nephew-in-law)
- Whether Boyce abused his discretion by sentencing Daybell to serve three consecutive fixed life sentences without parole
- Whether Boyce abused his discretion by ordering Daybell, who is indigent and has a public defender, to pay $165,018 in fines and court costs
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Archibald also filed a request asking the state to appoint appellate public defenders to take over the appeal portion of the case.
Appeals of felony convictions, especially in murder cases, are common. They must be filed within 42 days of sentencing. A transcript of Daybell’s trial will now be prepared for the Supreme Court, and Archibald is also requesting transcripts of Daybell’s competency hearings, pretrial hearings and the sentencing hearing.
The appellate process can be lengthy and may take several years. The Idaho attorney general will assign a lawyer to represent the prosecution, and that attorney, along with the defense appellate attorney, will prepare written briefs and likely present oral arguments before the state Supreme Court issues its decision.
There could be some delays in Daybell’s appellate case as the state of Arizona plans to extradite her on conspiracy to commit murder in Vallow’s death and for the attempted murder of Boudreaux.
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Daybell was booked into the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center a month ago. The trial for Chad Daybell, her husband, is scheduled to begin April 1 in Ada County.
Read the entire notice of appeal here.
