Arizona jury finds Lori Vallow Daybell guilty of conspiring to murder husband

PHOENIX — An Arizona jury has found Lori Vallow Daybell guilty of conspiring with her brother to murder her husband, Charles Vallow, returning the verdict after about three hours of deliberation Tuesday.

The 10 men and two women of the jury notified Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Justin Beresky of their verdict, and it was read to the court shortly before 5 p.m. Mountain Time.

Rather than having a second phase of the trial for the jury to hear evidence and make findings about aggravating circumstances, Daybell decided to stipulate to what prosecutors would argue. She stipulated that her crime was a dangerous offense, that it caused emotional or financial harm to Vallow’s immediate family and that it involved an accomplice.

She told Beresky she understood that a jury would normally need to determine these factors beyond a reasonable doubt, and that if a jury did not decide the aggravating factors, he could find other aggravating factors existed at her sentencing.

Siblings comment on verdict

In an interview after the trial ended, Gerry Vallow said it was a good day: “We won.” He said his brother Charles Vallow always used to say “love always wins.”

He said when the jury reached a verdict quickly, he pretty much knew it would be guilty.

“It was a relief, a long journey, and I’m just glad it’s over with. I really am, my whole family is, my sister, and I just want to thank everybody … that was here and got us through it all,” he said.

Gerry Vallow said he is pretty sure by the end of the first day Lori Daybell wished she had a “real attorney.”

His sister, Kay Woodcock, said they didn’t see her react when the verdict was read, watching her from the back. She said she was happy to hear after her testimony from others that it made Lori Daybell shake.

“Six years of walking the pits of hell every day, and about halfway through I realized, ‘OK, I’m going to make it through.’ … it was a long time before I got to that point,” she said.

She said it’s still hard, but they’re making it through, saying they are raising her 10-year-old granddaughter now.

She said she would like to tell Lori Daybell, “We gotcha, you’re not the smartest person in the room … you can just hide away, and everybody’s going to forget about you.”

Woodcock said they lost a lot but have found silver lining in family they have found throughout these trials.

The case

In her closing argument on Monday, Daybell, who is representing herself, said she is innocent, calling the death a “family tragedy.” She said the shooting “was not planned or expected; it was shocking.”

Prosecutor Treena Kay called Vallow’s death a “premeditated execution,” pointing to a second shot that ballistics experts testified was fired by Alex Cox while Vallow was lying on the floor. She focused on inconsistencies between what Daybell and Cox told officials and what the evidence at the scene suggested, particularly the timeline.

Kay said there were 47 minutes between when Vallow was shot and when Cox called 911, giving him time to set up the scene. But, she said, he made mistakes — like placing the baseball bat that Daybell claimed Vallow was threatening her with as if it were being held in Vallow’s right hand, when he was left-handed.

The prosecutor also cited texts from Daybell both shortly before and after her husband’s death, focusing on one to Chad Daybell, her current husband, about Vallow — or a dark spirit she said was controlling him, named Ned — changing his life insurance policy beneficiary. Lori Daybell said in the text that Ned likely changed the beneficiary “before we got rid of him.”

Kay said this was an admission of guilt directly from Lori Daybell.

She said these messages show that Lori Daybell’s motive for the murder was money — and Chad Daybell, whom she married later that year.

Lori Daybell was found guilty two years ago of conspiring to murder her two children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, along with conspiring to murder them and Chad Daybell’s then-wife, Tammy Daybell. Lori Daybell is serving five sentences of life in prison, three without the possibility of parole, for those crimes.

Chad Daybell was found guilty in a separate trial of murdering the two children and his wife, and he was sentenced to death for the crimes last year.

Lori Daybell decided to wait to be sentenced for conspiracy to murder Charles Vallow until after her next criminal trial — on a charge that she conspired to murder Brandon Boudreaux, her niece’s husband. Officers who testified in Idaho trials said they believe Boudreaux was shot at by Cox, but he was not hit. That trial is scheduled to begin in May.