The judge and attorneys involved in Chad Daybell’s upcoming murder trial have set a November 29 date for a hearing on whether to allow cameras in the courtroom for the proceedings.
Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce previously barred cameras for the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, Daybell’s wife who was charged and convicted on the same charges as her husband: conspiracy to murder and conspiracy in the deaths of two of her children, 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell.
Vallow Daybell was sentenced to three life sentences earlier this year, CrimeOnline reported. The husband and wife were initially to be tried together, but Daybell waived his right to a speedy trial while Vallow Daybell pointedly did not, and Boyce severed the two cases.
Vallow Daybell’s attorneys vehemently opposed cameras in the courtroom, and Boyce complied.
Earlier, Daybell’s attorneys filed motion requesting that cameras be allowed, and the sides hammered out a date to hear arguments during a video conference on Tuesday, the Post Register reported.
“Defense has concerns that the lack of public access to the trial would cause financial hardship to members of families, limit the parties’ family access, limit the public from adequate access to what is a trial of great interest to the public,” attorney John Prior wrote in his September 29 motion.
Prior said during Tuesday’s conference that reporters were already calling him about access.
“It’s not my job to represent the media out there,” he told the judge. “I think at this point, given the fact this case is going to trial, I expect the media to now jump all over the court’s inquiry. We’d better have a hearing. Mr. Daybell has not changed his position. He still maintains his feeling of having a public hearing.”
Prosecutors told Boyce they still oppose the move.
“At this juncture, the state will be maintaining the same position,” Lindsey Blake said.
The Daybell saga began with the disappearance of Tylee and JJ and the death of Tammy Daybell and soon stretched back in time to the death of Vallow Daybell’s fourth husband, Charles Vallow, who was shot to death by her brother weeks before the children vanished and Tammy Daybell died.
Daybell and Vallow Daybell married shortly after Tammy Daybell’s death, and at first told police the children were with relatives. They fled to Hawaii, however, where Vallow Daybell was later found and arrested and extradited to Idaho. Daybell was arrested when the children’s bodies were found buried on his property in June 2020.
Vallow Daybell also faces a conspiracy charge in the death of Charles Vallow. Alex Cox, her brother who shot Vallow — allegedly in self defense — died a few months later, reportedly of natural causes.
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[Featured image: FILE – Chad Daybell at an August 4, 2020, court hearing. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool, File)]
