Prosecutor opposes new trial for Lori Vallow Daybell

PHOENIX — The above video is from a previous broadcast.

A Maricopa County prosecutor is pushing back after Lori Vallow Daybell requested a new murder conspiracy trial.

A jury found Vallow Daybell guilty of Conspiracy to Commit First-Degree Murder in April.  Last week, Vallow Daybell, who is representing herself, filed a motion for a new trial. She cited a number of claims, including that a juror knew about her prior convictions.

In 2023, Vallow Daybell was convicted in Idaho for killing her children, Tylee and JJ.  She was also convicted for her role in the death of Tammy Daybell, her current husband Chad Daybell’s first wife.  She was sentenced to life in prison in that state and later extradited to Arizona to face charges in two more cases.

Vallow Daybell’s first trial in Arizona was a murder conspiracy case out of Chandler, where she was accused of conspiring to kill her former husband, Charles Vallow.  That trial concluded in April.  Her next trial, where she’s accused of conspiring to kill her niece’s ex-husband, is set to begin in June.

In her filing for a new trial, Vallow Daybell claimed there was juror misconduct in her first Arizona trial.  She said after the verdict, “Juror Fifteen made a statement indicating he had knowledge of this defendant’s prior conviction.”  Vallow Daybell claims the jury’s verdict was “tainted.”

This juror told 12News after the verdict that he did not know about Vallow Daybell’s past.

Vallow Daybell made a series of other claims, including prosecutorial misconduct and a lack of impartiality by the court.

In a response filed this week, Prosecutor Treena Kay requested that the court deny Vallow Daybell’s motion for a new trial.

The filing, obtained by 12News, states that “there was no juror misconduct, no prosecutorial misconduct, no improper exclusion of hearsay testimony and no lack of impartiality by the Court.”

The prosecutor claims that recordings by other journalists outside the courthouse indicate that Juror Fifteen was asked about her prior homicide convictions and said he did not know about Vallow Daybell’s history in that regard.

In another interview, the prosecutor said that Juror Fifteen said he started googling Lori Vallow Daybell inside the jury room after the verdict was read and jurors were released from the case. 

The court has not yet made a decision regarding Vallow Daybell’s motion for a new trial or the prosecutor’s response.

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