Lori Vallow appears in court for the fourth day of jury selection on April 6, 2023; JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan appear inset, on the left, and Lori Vallow appears inset, on the right. (Pool courtroom sketch artist; FBI Wanted poster; screengrab via CBS This Morning)
Jury selection wrapped up mid-morning on Friday in Ada County, Idaho, as the triple murder trial for Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, a "doomsday cult"-connected mother of two dead children and two dead ex-husbands continued into its fifth day.
Ultimately, 10 men and 8 women were chosen for the task, Law&Crime has learned.
Opening statements are scheduled to begin Monday morning.
Vallow and her fifth and current husband, Chad Daybell, 54, stand accused of murder over the 2019 deaths of Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ashlyn Ryan, 16. The children disappeared on different dates in September of that year. Vallow was initially arrested in Hawaii in February 2020 on charges of child desertion. Daybell was arrested later that year after the children's bodies were found buried at his property. The two defendants were indicted for the murder of Vallow's children and Daybell's first wife, Tammy Daybell, 49, in May 2021. Initially being prosecuted as husband-and-wife co-defendants, the couple's cases were recently severed and will be tried separately.
The goal for jury selection in the case is to obtain 12 jurors and six alternates. The trial is being overseen by Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce, who explained to would-be jurors on Monday that the case is expected to last as long as eight weeks.
On Thursday, the court struggled to finalize the list but the voir dire process moved forward as both the prosecution and defense made strikes and the court removed several potential jurors due to their prior knowledge of the complicated murder-conspiracy case.
Law&Crime correspondent Gigi McKelvey will provide rolling updates as the case progresses Friday and throughout the trial:
Feed is up. Lori is flipping through her legal pad. #lorivallow @LawCrimeNetwork
— Pretty Lies & Alibis🎙 (@PrettyLiesAlibi) April 7, 2023
Update: 10:06 A.M. MST – A jury of her peers has been selected
Judge asks if the jury is acceptable to the state and defense. They both say yes #LoriVallow @LawCrimeNetwork
— Pretty Lies & Alibis🎙 (@PrettyLiesAlibi) April 7, 2023
Update: 9:48 A.M. MST – Lori Vallow gets involved in the process
Lori is VERY involved in this process. #LoriVallow @LawCrimeNetwork
— Pretty Lies & Alibis🎙 (@PrettyLiesAlibi) April 7, 2023
Update: 9:37 A.M. MST: Chad Daybell's attorney makes an appearance
We now have audio. Chad's attorney is here this morning #LoriVallow @LawCrimeNetwork
— Pretty Lies & Alibis🎙 (@PrettyLiesAlibi) April 7, 2023
Vanessa Bein contributed to this article.
