Lori Vallow Daybell speaks in court; judge denies request to cancel mental health evaluation
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PHOENIX — Lori Vallow Daybell will need to undergo mental health evaluations before court proceedings in her Arizona case can resume.
Judge Justin Beresky made the decision during a hearing Wednesday morning, denying a request from Daybell’s attorneys to withdraw a motion her former defense team filed requesting a Rule 11 evaluation. Rule 11 governs competency evaluations for defendants who may be mentally incompetent to stand trial.
“She has sufficient mental capacity to understand the nature of this dispute, and there has been no history of irrational behavior,” said Pamela Hicks, one of Daybell’s attorneys.
Daybell was extradited from Idaho to Arizona a year ago on two charges of conspiracy to commit murder in connection to her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, and her former nephew-in-law, Brandon Boudreaux.
Her former attorneys withdrew from the case last month, citing an undisclosed conflict of interest, and new defense counsel was appointed. They immediately filed a motion to withdraw the Rule 11 evaluation that Beresky had issued weeks earlier.
Daybell’s competency was an issue before her murder trial in Idaho. She was admitted to an Idaho Department of Correction mental health facility after being found incompetent for trial in June 2021. Ten months later, she was deemed competent. Court proceedings were again paused for about a month in 2022 due to competency issues, but Judge Steven Boyce ultimately deemed Daybell fit for trial.
Earlier this month, Daybell made it known she wanted to represent herself going forward in the Arizona case. Beresky asked her Wednesday if she had ever been found incompetent in the past.
“Not to my understanding. My understanding was the judge did the same thing you did in an abundance of caution and I came out competent,” Daybell responded.
Daybell explained she went through “a process of several things” while in the Idaho facility – including competency classes, meeting with doctors and “many, many evaluators.”
Hicks said her client has already spoken briefly with one mental health evaluator in Arizona and Maricopa County prosecutors asked Beresky to order Daybell to speak with another expert, to which her defense team objected.
“We’re going down a rabbit hole,” said defense attorney Robert Abernathy as Daybell nodded her head. “If she doesn’t want to talk to the doctors, she doesn’t have to talk to the doctors.”
Despite arguments against the Rule 11 evaluation, Beresky said it will remain in place and another expert will evaluate Daybell. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 5.
