Judge rules Lori Vallow can represent herself in Maricopa County murder case
PHOENIX (AZFamily/AP) — Lori Vallow, the so-called “doomsday mom” who was found guilty of the deaths of her children in Idaho, will be allowed to represent herself in a separate murder case in Maricopa County.
She’s facing charges of conspiring to kill her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, and the attempted murder of her ex’s nephew, Brandon Boudreaux.
On Friday, Vallow appeared in a downtown Phoenix courtroom after she was deemed mentally fit to stand trial the day before. In court, Vallow requested to represent herself in the case, reiterating that she was fully prepared to do so.
“Do you believe you’ll be able to present a defense at trial?” Judge Justin Beresky asked. “I do,” Vallow replied.
“Can you tell me a little bit why you want to represent yourself?” Judge Beresky asked.
“For the past five years that I’ve been incarcerated, I have taken it upon myself to study case law and criminal rules of procedure in the state of Idaho and Arizona, as well as federally. Prior to that, for the last 10 years, prior to my incarceration, I did study procedure in family law and I have real trial experience,” Vallow explained. “I have participated in three different full trials from beginning to end. One in family court, two in criminal court.”
If found guilty, Vallow also faces up to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed in 2019 by her brother, Alex Cox, who told police he acted in self-defense and was never charged.
Vallow was previously sentenced to life in prison in Idaho for conspiring in the deaths of her two children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. She and her husband, Chad Daybell, were also found guilty for the death of Chad’s wife, Tammy Daybell.
Daybell became Vallow’s fifth husband and was later sentenced to death for the murders of both children and Tammy.
Prosecutors in the Idaho case called dozens of witnesses to bolster their claims that Daybell and Vallow conspired to kill the two children and Tammy to eliminate any obstacles to their relationship and for the survivor benefits and life insurance.
Prosecutors say the couple justified the killings by creating an apocalyptic belief system that people could be possessed by evil spirits and turned into “zombies,” and that the only way to save a possessed person’s soul was for the possessed body to die.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
