Judge: Lori Vallow Daybell restored to competency, murder trial to proceed

Lori Vallow Daybell. File photo: Court Pool

ST. ANTHONY, Idaho, April 11, 2022 (Gephardt Daily/East Idaho News) — Lori Vallow Daybell has been restored to competency and will face a jury trial on murder charges, a judge has ruled.

Idaho District Judge Steven Boyce issued a written order Monday morning saying Daybell is fit to proceed, and he ordered that she be released from a Department of Health and Welfare facility where she has been undergoing treatment in northern Idaho since last summer, according to East Idaho News.

“The court orders that the defendant be brought before this court to be arraigned. Further, the order staying the case is hereby lifted. Defendant is to be transferred from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and remanded to the custody of the Fremont County Sheriff to be transported and brought before this court,” Boyce wrote.

Daybell and her husband Chad Daybell, a former Utah resident, are charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan — two of Lori’s children — and Chad’s first wife, Tammy Daybell.

Lori Daybell’s case has been on hold since June, when she was declared incompetent for trial.

Chad and Lori Daybell’s cases are set to be tried together in Ada County in January 2023. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, April 19, where prosecutors are expected to argue that bringing jurors to Fremont County for the trial will be significantly cheaper than moving the entire trial to Ada County.

Lori Daybell is now scheduled to be arraigned on that same day at 1 p.m.

Gephardt Daily will have updates as the story develops.

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