Chad Daybell trial updates: Jury selection enters second day for husband of ‘cult mom’ Lori Vallow

Chad Daybell’s triple murder trial continues Tuesday with a second day of jury selection.

The attorneys are in Judge Steven Boyce’s chambers. Daybell sits alone at the defence table.

Sixteen potential jurors were chosen on Monday to advance. A pool of 50 potential jurors is needed before both the state and the defence can begin to strike.

Jury selection is expected to last about a week.

Eventually, there will be 18 jurors which includes six alternates for the eight to 10 week trial in Ada County, Idaho.

Watch the livestream of the proceedings here:

Chad Daybell has been known by many different names over the years: Gravedigger, “doomsday” author, alleged cult leader – but could he also soon be known as a convicted killer?

Over the next eight to 10 weeks, a jury in Ada County will make that decision. His wife Lori Vallow was convicted last Spring – but was she the mastermind behind it all or was he?

In a dramatic closing statement last year, Vallow’s lawyers argued that she had been “under the control” of Daybell, under the spell of the “craziness” of his cult beliefs.

“One year after meeting Chad, four people are dead,” they said. “But is Lori a leader or a follower of Chad? She so wants to be a leader but she’s not leading anyone.”

“She’s following Chad. She thinks Chad is following Jesus but he’s not. He’s unfortunately being led by the storm – not the first guy to be led by the storm.”

Daybell was arrested on 9 June 2020 and booked into the Fremont County Jail after the remains of Lori Vallow’s children were found in his Rexburg, Idaho backyard.

He had left the house during the search as Rexburg Police, Fremont County Sheriff deputies and the FBI swarmed the property and began a dig that lasted for hours. But he was arrested a short time later.

Daybell has shown little to no emotion at his court appearances over the past four years.

On 21 March, he was transferred from Fremont County Jail to the Ada County Jail in Boise in preparation for his trial.

Daybell is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of the two children and the death of his former wife Tammy. He’s also charged with insurance fraud.

Prosecutors say that the couple conspired with Vallow’s brother Alex Cox to kill the children and Daybell’s wife both as part of their doomsday beliefs – but also to collect life insurance money, the kids’ social security and survivor benefits.

Day two of Chad Daybell’s trial continues with jury selection on Tuesday.

Court will be back in session in Ada County, Idaho at 9amMT/11amET.

Sixteen people have advanced to the next round in the process – out of 32 people who were questioned on Monday. The questioning will continue until 50 total people have been chosen for the pool before both the state and the defence are able to strike.

Eventually 18 jurors will be chosen, which includes six alternates.

Jury selection is expected to take about a week. The trial itself is expected to last eight to 10 weeks.

Chad Daybell could face the death penalty if he is found guilty of murdering his former wife, Tammy Daybell, and current wife Lori Vallow’s children Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow.

But certain qualifications must be met in order for prosecutors to seek the death penalty in Idaho.

“There could be a mass shooting where more than one person dies. There could be something specifically atrocious and cruel in the way they killed the person,” John Thomas, one of Lori Vallow’s attorneys, told EastIdahoNews.com in a recent interview.

“If the person has a high propensity to kill again or if there is a death involving a police officer in Idaho, they automatically go for the death penalty. Also if you kill someone while you’re an inmate in prison, you’re automatically qualified for death.”

In death penalty cases, there is the pre-conviction phase – where the jury decides if the defendant is guilty or not guilty – and there is also a punishment phase, where they determine if the defendant gets life in prison or death.

Judges do not decide the punishment in a death penalty case.

Instead, after the first part of the trial is over, the jury then deliberates about whether the defendant should get life in prison – or the death penalty.

The jury would be sequestered during this time, which could take a week or more.

On Monday, Judge Steven Boyce dismissed a couple of potential jurors because they said the long time commitment would present undue hardship.

He asked the others if they were aware of Daybell’s case, had already decided his guilt or innocence or if they had any bias that might prevent them from being fair.

Several indicated they had heard about the case, but only a couple said that they couldn’t be impartial.

Jury selection is expected to take about a week. Eighteen jurors will be picked, with six of them serving as alternates.

In chilling text messages revealed at Lori Vallow’s trial, when she complained to Daybell about being “tired of taking care of demons” while referring to her children, he offers to “cause pain.”

“We r both so tired of taking care of demons,” she wrote in a text to Daybell in August 2019 – one month before Tylee and JJ were murdered. “We are weary. Please ask the Lord to take them.”

They spoke about inflicting pain on children and giving them “a reason to scream”.

Daybell asked if she wanted him to “cause pain” to the “two three’s” she was travelling with.

She replied to him telling him to hold off, but added that if they started to act up again “we can zap them”.

Daybell agreed and responded: “Sounds great. Yes, If they are going to act up, well at least give them a reason to scream.”

Nine months after they went missing, the children’s family members’ worst fears were realised when JJ and Tylee’s remains were discovered buried in Daybell’s backyard in June 2020.

JJ’s body was found in a black plastic bag wrapped in duct tape while Tylee’s body had been dismembered and burned in a fire pit, before being buried in the pet cemetery.

Cellphone data places Vallow’s brother Alex Cox in the yard of Daybell’s property in the hours after both of the children’s disappearances.

The morning after Tylee was last seen alive, Daybell also sent a text to his wife to say that he had shot a raccoon and buried it in the pet cemetery on the grounds of their property.