ATTORNEYS for “cult mom” Lori Vallow is desperately collecting evidence which includes 3,000 phone calls as of date for their murder trial approaches.
Vallow and Daybell are being tried separately for the killings of her children seven-year-old JJ and Tylee, 16, as well as that of his former wife Tammy Daybell.
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Vallow’s attorneys presented some last-minute motions to the judge before the trial began.
One motion brought up was already granted by Idaho District Judge Steven Boyce in December.
It was for prosecutors to turn over all written and recorded statements made by Chad to Vallow’s attorney.
The evidence turned over including phone calls as well as recordings from five in-custody visits, but it’s unclear who Daybell was talking to or what the conversations were about.
Unfortunately, the defense wasn’t too pleased with how the audio clips were turned over.
The judge gave prosecutors a deadline of February 27 to fork over the phone calls.
Prosecutors complied with his request, and handed over the evidence on the final day at 4.07pm.
Now, Vallow’s defense is filing a new motion to throw out the calls as they are arguing they were not given enough time to properly listen to the massive amount of clips.
“Obviously we are very close to the commencement of trial in this so we have limited time to get through these,” Vallow’s attorney John Thomas said during a hearing today, according to East Idaho News.
“To dump 5,000 pages on us on February 27, hours of video and audio recordings and another 3,000 phone calls two days ago, it’s just really disappointing that we had to wait this long to get all the discoveries,” said his other lawyer Jim Archibald .
Technically, Judge Boyce issued an order on December 27 that stated all evidence must be submitted “prior to” February 27, Archibald argued.
Meanwhile, prosecutors claimed that they never intended to withhold evidence, and pointed out that Vallow’s current attorneys were not yet hired at the time the order was issued.
“We do not believe it was a late disclosure. We believe February 27 was the deadline,” said Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood.
“The state has always endeavored to disclose what we have.”
And finally, Archibald presented a motion for the death penalty option to be thrown out “due to the cumulative of errors.”
“Media saturation, multiple violations by the government, the government’s knowledge of my client’s mental health, and the practical standpoint that Idaho has been trying to kill people on death row and hasn’t been able to do it because the Idaho Department of Correction can ‘t get chemicals to kill people,” he confessed.
However, the prosecutors hit back that it was far too early to discuss this matter, and argued that the death penalty would be revisited after Vallow had been tried and sentenced.
“The defense is merely trying to make unsupported arguments regarding the potential method in which a capital sentence may – or would – be carried out, assuming she is given a capital sentence,” Blake said.
The judge said he would issue his decisions at a hearing on March 22.
DRAMA TRIALS
Onlookers were shocked after a judge ruled last month that Vallow and Daybell would have tried for the murders of her children separately.
Boyce had previously said he would not split the trial, but decided it should be done separately for DNA evidence purposes.
Vallow will still go on trial on the scheduled date, April 3, but Daybell’s will be rescheduled for a later date. She did not waive her right to a speedy trial while Daybell did.
The grandparents of JJ have said that they believe Daybell will turn on Lori when his trial begins.
The alleged “cult mom’s” children were reported missing in 2019.
In the wake of this horror report, Vallow traveled to Hawaii with Daybell, her fifth husband, who was the leader of a suspected doomsday religious cult.
Their remains were found buried on Daybell’s property in rural Idaho in June 2020.
The couple is also charged in connection with the October 2019 death of Chad’s late wife, Tammy Daybell.
Lori is also separately charged with conspiracy to commit murder in Arizona in connection with her ex Charles Vallow’s death.
The couple was estranged, and Charles had filed for divorce, saying he feared she would kill him and that she had developed cult-like beliefs.
They could face the death penalty if convicted.
Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges.