Jury finds Lori Vallow Daybell guilty in murder conspiracy trial

PHOENIX (AZFamily/AP) — A jury in Phoenix has found Lori Vallow Daybell guilty of conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, meaning the mother with doomsday religious beliefs faces another life sentence after she was already convicted in Idaho in the killings of her two youngest children and a romantic rival.

The verdict was read in a Maricopa County Superior courtroom on Tuesday afternoon. Vallow Daybell didn’t have much of a reaction to the verdict.

Jurors discuss the case

Jurors deliberated for a total of three hours over two days. Vallow Daybell, who isn’t an attorney but chose to defend herself at trial, sat mostly still as the verdict was read but glanced occasionally at jurors as they were asked to confirm they found her guilty on the single charge.

Outside the courtroom, several jurors talked about the case. They didn’t understand why Vallow Daybell’s daughter, Tylee Ryan, who witnessed the shooting, and her brother, Alex Cox, who shot Charles Vallow, didn’t testify in the trial.

“It was very confusing,” said one woman juror. “It just felt like so much of the story that was missing.”

Arizona’s Family asked her what made her sway to a guilty verdict. “For me, it was the text messages that did it,” she said. “We uncovered some lies.”

Another juror said he was initially on the fence but they heard the prosecutor’s closing arguments. “Up until yesterday, I would have said not guilty,” he said. “There were a few things she said in there that when I looked them up today, I was like, yeah, that’s bad.”

One of the jurors, Victoria Lewis, said that Vallow Daybell didn’t do herself any favors by choosing to represent herself. “Many days she was just smiling and laughing and didn’t seem to take anything very seriously,” Lewis told reporters.

Vallow family reaction

Vallow’s siblings, Kay Woodcock and Gerry Vallow, told reporters they are grateful for the jury’s decision.

“We gotcha, and you’re not the smartest person in the room,” Woodcock said when asked if she has a message for Vallow Daybell. “Everybody’s going to forget about you.”

Gerry Vallow had a simple answer when asked about Vallow Daybell’s lawyering skills. “I thought she sucked,” he said. “I’m sure on the first day of trial she wished she had an attorney, a real attorney.”

Gerry Vallow described his feeling as “elation” when the guilty verdict was read. “I feel good,” said Woodcock.

What happened to Charles Vallow

Prosecutors said Vallow Daybell conspired with her brother, Alex Cox, in the July 2019 shooting death of Charles Vallow at her home in Chandler.

She was trying to collect money from his life insurance policy and planned to marry her then-boyfriend Chad Daybell, an Idaho author who wrote several religious novels about prophecies and the end of the world, prosecutors said.

Cox, who claimed he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Vallow, died five months later from what medical examiners said was a blood clot in his lungs. Cox’s account was later called into question.

Vallow Daybell, who isn’t an attorney but chose to defend herself at trial, told jurors that during the encounter inside the house, Vallow chased her with a bat, and Alex shot Vallow in self-defense after she left the house.

Last week, Adam Cox, the surviving brother of Vallow Daybell, testified on behalf of the prosecution, telling jurors that he had no doubt that Vallow Daybell and his brother Alex were behind Vallow’s death.

Adam Cox said Vallow’s killing occurred just before he and Vallow were planning an intervention to bring Vallow Daybell back into the mainstream of their shared faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He testified that before Vallow’s death, his sister had told people her husband was no longer living and that a zombie was living inside his body.

Four months before he died, Vallow filed for divorce from Vallow Daybell, saying she had become infatuated with near-death experiences and had claimed to have lived numerous lives on other planets. He alleged she threatened to ruin him financially and kill him. He sought a voluntary mental health evaluation of his wife.

What’s next for Vallow Daybell

The trial marked the first of two criminal trials in Arizona for Vallow Daybell. She’s scheduled to go on trial again in early June on a charge of conspiring to murder Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell’s niece, Melani Pawlowski. Boudreaux survived the attempt.

She will be sentenced for Vallow’s death after her second trial. She faces a life sentence.

Vallow Daybell is already serving three life sentences in the Idaho case.

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