LIVE UPDATES: Chad Daybell found guilty on all counts, penalty phase begins

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Please excuse the typos. These are live updates from the courtroom.

3:24 p.m. Court has concluded for the day and will resume tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. There will be no courtroom insider tonight.

3:23 p.m. It is presumed that no statutory aggravating circumstance exists for Chad at this point. The state has to prove that there is at least one.

3:22 p.m. Boyce reminds jurors not to make a decision based on what the majority of them believe.

3:21 p.m. Boyce explains that jurors need to use all evidence presented in the case when deciding the sentence.

3:19 p.m. Before the death penalty can be considered, the state must prove at least one aggravating factor. Those can include:

• At the time the murder was committed, the defendant also committed another murder
• The defendant exhibited utter disregard for human life
• The murder was committed during another serious crime
• The murder was “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity

3:17 p.m. Boyce will be reading preliminary instructions, and witnesses will begin tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m.

3:16 p.m. Boyce says we are beginning the ‘capital sentencing phase.’ This will determine whether Chad Daybell will face life in prison or the death penalty.

3:14 p.m. The jurors have been seated.

3:12 p.m. Chad Daybell has been brought back into the courtroom. He is showing no emotion. Jurors are being brought back in.

3:11 p.m. Judge Boyce is back on the bench.

3:09 p.m. Attorneys are back in the courtroom.

3:00 p.m. Kaitlyn Hart with EastIdahoNews.com, I’m taking over for Nate as we begin the penalty phase for Chad Daybell after he was found guilty on all counts almost an hour ago. The public was just let back into the courtroom.

2:12 p.m. Taking an hour recess and then the sentencing phase of the trial will begin. I will be live outside shortly.

2:11 p.m.

2:08 p.m. Clerk reads the verdict as Daybell stands:

COUNT 1 – conspiracy first degree murder Tylee — GUILTY
COUNT 2 – first degree murder Tylee — GUILTY
COUNT 3 – conspiracy first degree murder JJ – GUILTY
COUNT 4 – first degree murder JJ – GUILTY
COUNT 5 – conspiracy first degree murder Tammy — GUILTY
COUNT 6 – first degree murder Tammy — GUILTY
COUNT 7 – insurance fraud — GUILTY
COUNT 9 – insurance fraud – GUILTY

2:07 p.m. Jury floor person confirms the jury has reached a verdict. It is handed to Judge Boyce. He reviews it and says all counts have been properly marked.

2:05 p.m. Jurors are in the courtroom. 12 jurors, 7 alternates. Boyce reminds everyone about the courtroom conduct order. Clerk calls a roll call of the jury.

2:04 p.m. “The court has been advised that the jury has reached a verdict,” Boyce says.

2:02 p.m. Judge Boyce is on the bench. He is logging onto his computer and says it will be a moment to get started.

1:59 p.m. Chad Daybell just walked in. He’s wearing a blue checkered dress shirt with a yellow tie. Prior is whispering to him.

1:56 p.m. Attorneys are walking back in the courtroom. The room is packed. 67 state witnesses, 11 defense witnesses, 6 rebuttal witnesses, 8 weeks of testimony, 12 jurors, 6 hours of deliberations and we are here. Minutes away from the verdict being announced.

1:51 p.m. The attorneys have left the courtroom to go meet with Judge Boyce. Court reporter is in her seat and the lady who runs the live video feed is at her desk.

1:50 p.m. John Prior just walked in the courtroom. He’s chatting and smiling with the prosecution team: Rob Wood, Lindsey Blake, Ingrid Batey and Rocky Wixom.

1:46 p.m. Bailiff reminds everyone to turn off their phones and noise making devices.

1:42 p.m. Law enforcement officers continue to file in the courtroom. Lots of chatter among people in their seats. John Prior and Chad Daybell are not in the courtroom yet.

1:30 p.m. Lori Vallow Daybell’s verdict was read at 1:03 p.m. on May 12, 2023. Watch her verdict here. Chad Daybell’s verdict will be read at 2 p.m. on May 30, 2024.

1:27 p.m. Jury deliberated for 5 hours 54 minutes (give or take a few minutes).

1:25 p.m. Several police officers and other investigators are in the courtroom. Every single seat in this courtroom will be filled.

1:22 p.m. In the courtroom: Larry and Kay Woodcock, Heather and Matt Daybell, Ron Douglas (Tammy Daybell’s father), Samatha Gwilliam (Tammy’s sister) and her husband Jason, Mike Douglas (Tammy’s brother). Other family members are also here.

1:10 p.m. A verdict has been reached. It will be read at 2 p.m. I am in the courtroom.

11:07 a.m. The judge will add the instruction to the others and the jurors will take it back with them to the jury room. Jurors are dismissed. Prior asks if there will be a 30 minute warning when a verdict has been reached. Boyce says yes. Chad, wearing an ankle monitor, stands up and is waiting to be escorted out.

11:04 a.m. Jury is seated. Boyce reads the additional instruction. It has to do with count six of the indictment – the first degree murder of Tammy Daybell.

11:01 a.m. Boyce says the new instruction – #42 – has been drafted and the judge will now read it to the jury. Defense and prosecution have no objection to having the new instruction read.

11 a.m. Boyce is on the bench. He says the court received a jury question. The jurors identified a missing instruction and Boyce spoke about it with the attorneys. The court has drafted a missing instruction.

10:56 a.m. We are back in the courtroom. Chad Daybell and John Prior are sitting at the defense table and prosecutors are at their table. Unclear if Judge Boyce will publicly address what just happened.

10:50 a.m. Everyone who was in the courtroom in now in the hallway. We have no idea what is happening inside the courtroom but it remains closed to the public.

10:17 a.m. We were just told this will be a closed hearing. We were asked to leave the courtroom and there will not be a livestream.

10:11 a.m. John Prior just walked in.

10:07 a.m. Prosecutors Rob Wood, Ingrid Batey and Rocky Wixom just walked in. Larry Woodcock is in the courtroom – so are Jason Gwilliam, Samantha Gwilliam’s husband, and Mike Douglas, Tammy Daybell’s brother.

10:05 a.m. We are back in the courtroom. The jury has been deliberating since 8 a.m. We are about to go on the record for a procedural matter – NOT a verdict. Chad Daybell is sitting alone at the defense table. John Prior and the prosecutors are not in the courtroom yet. Standby for news.