The Fremont County Courthouse where pre-trial court proceedings for the Daybell case are taking place. Photo credit: Calvin Beale & Wikipedia Commons
The defense and prosecution in the murder trial of spouses Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow agreed to have recently discovered hair samples DNA tested according to a court document filed Thursday.
The couple is accused of murdering Vallow’s children — JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan — who went missing in September 2019 and were found dead and buried on Daybell’s Salem property in June 2020.
The court filing states the hair samples were recently discovered by the Idaho State Lab. There were no further details about the discovery.
It is unclear if these hair samples are the same hair samples recovered from duct tape inside the body bag reportedly used to transport JJ Vallow’s remains as mentioned in a court document filed in July. The latter-mentioned samples along with other evidence were ordered tested by District Judge Steven Boyce in August.
This agreement by all legal parties in the case will allow the Idaho State Lab to determine if there is enough DNA in the hair samples to create a DNA profile. If more than one profile can be created, each party may take a portion of the sample and have their own expert test it.
Consumptive tests leave little to no remains of the original DNA evidence because the samples are small.
The same day the stipulation for DNA testing was filed, prosecutors Lindsey Blake and Rob Wood filed an objection to the defense’s motion to declare Vallow ineligible for the death penalty saying her charges — premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder — allow for the death penalty under Idaho law if she is convicted.
“The evidence the State will introduce at trial … will establish that the Defendant intended for her children and her boyfriend’s wife to die, and that she affirmatively acted to make those deaths happen,” said Blake and Wood in their filing.
In another filing, the prosecutors responded to a motion from Vallow’s attorneys to allow her to directly communicate with Daybell saying that they have no right to do so and the presence of a co-defendant and their respective lawyers in any meeting would end any claim to attorney/client privilege. Blake and Wood stated in their response that they would not agree to not use any information obtained in discussions between the two defense parties as evidence against them.
Vallow’s attorneys, meanwhile, filed an objection to a motion to sequester the jury for the duration of the trial, expected to last 10 weeks, saying it “would cause an undue burden on the jurors.”
The joint trial for Daybell and Vallow begins April 3 in Boise.
