Jury deliberations begin in trial of Idaho man charged in triple-murder case

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Jury deliberations begin in trial of Idaho man charged in triple-murder case

2024-05-30 06:53 Last Updated At：07:00

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Jury deliberations began Wednesday in the case of an Idaho man charged with murdering his wife and his girlfriend's two youngest children in what prosecutors said was a callous scheme for money, power and sex.

“Three dead bodies ... and for what?” prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors in the trial of Chad Daybell. “Money, power and sex — that's what the defendant cared about.”

Daybell, 55, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit murder and grand theft in connection with the 2019 deaths of Tammy Daybell, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if Daybell is convicted.

But Daybell's defense attorney, John Prior, told jurors that there wasn't enough evidence to tie Daybell to the deaths. Prior said police looked only for things they could use against Daybell rather than the actual facts of the case — and he claimed that the children's late uncle, Alex Cox, committed the crimes.

“Alex Cox is a murderer, and he is not shy about shooting people,” Prior said, noting that Cox had previously killed JJ Vallow's father in Arizona and that the two kids were the only witnesses to that shooting.

He said Cox later tried to frame Daybell by burying the slain children in Daybell's yard in eastern Idaho.

“Folks, if there is reasonable doubt – and there is reasonable doubt – you must, according to the judge’s instructions, return a verdict of not guilty,” Prior said.

Last year, the children’s mother and Daybell's girlfriend, Lori Vallow Daybell, received a life sentence without parole for the killings.

Prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses to bolster their claims that Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell conspired to kill the two children and Tammy Daybell because they wanted to get rid of any obstacles to their relationship and to obtain money from survivor benefits and life insurance. Prosecutors say the couple justified the killings by creating an apocalyptic belief system that people could be possessed by evil spirits and turned into “zombies,” and that the only way to save a possessed person’s soul was for the possessed body to die.

Blake said Wednesday that Daybell styled himself a leader of what he called “The Church of the Firstborn” and told Vallow Daybell and others that he could determine if someone had become a “zombie.” Daybell also claimed to be able to determine how close a person was to death by reading what he called their “death percentage,” Blake said.

With these elements, Daybell followed a pattern for each of those who were killed, Blake said.

“They would be labeled as ‘dark’ by Chad Daybell. Their ‘death percentage’ would drop. Then they would have to die,” she said.

Blake also said Daybell manipulated Vallow Daybell and her brother, Cox, into helping with the plan, at times bestowing 'spiritual blessings' on Cox and warning Vallow Daybell that the angels were angry because she was at times ignoring him.

Prior rejected the prosecution's descriptions of Daybell's beliefs. He described Daybell as a traditional member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a deeply religious man who talked about his spiritual beliefs every chance he could get.

“Whether you agree with light and dark, it doesn't matter. Whether you believe in death percentages, it doesn't matter,” Prior said. “He's entitled to his beliefs.”

Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell married just two weeks after Tammy Daybell’s death in October 2019, raising suspicion among law enforcement officials. Tammy Daybell’s body was later exhumed, and officials say an autopsy showed she died of asphyxiation. Chad Daybell had told officials that Tammy Daybell had been sick, and that she died in her sleep.

Witnesses for both sides agreed that Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell were having an affair that began well before Tammy Daybell died, and that the two young children were missing for months before their remains were found buried in Chad Daybell's backyard.

The case began when Lori Vallow Daybell's then-estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot to death in July 2019 by Cox at his home in a Phoenix, Arizona suburb. Cox told police it was in self-defense and he was never charged.

Vallow Daybell, her kids JJ and Tylee, and Cox subsequently moved to eastern Idaho to be closer to Daybell, a self-published writer of doomsday-focused fiction loosely based on Mormon teachings. Soon, extended family reported the two children missing and law enforcement launched a search that spanned several states.

The children’s remains were found nearly a year later, buried on Chad Daybell’s property. Investigators later determined the children died in September 2019. Prosecutors say Cox conspired with Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell in all three deaths, but Cox died of natural causes during the investigation and was never charged.

Vallow Daybell's niece, Melani Pawlowski, testified at trial that the couple believed that people could be possessed by evil spirits, rendering them “zombies.” Her testimony echoed that of Melanie Gibb, a friend of the couple who said during Vallow Daybell's trial that she heard Vallow Daybell call the two kids “zombies” before they vanished.

Defense witnesses included Dr. Kathy Raven, a forensic pathologist who reviewed reports from Tammy Daybell’s autopsy and said she believed the cause of death should have been classified as “undetermined.”

Chad Daybell’s son, Garth Daybell, told jurors he was home the night his mother died and that he heard no disturbance. He said he later felt like police officers and prosecutors were trying to pressure him to change his story, even threatening him with perjury charges at one point.

Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce told the jury panel that they would be sequestered during deliberations, and he warned attorneys on both sides of the case to stay close to the courthouse in case jurors have questions or reach a verdict quickly.

If jurors find Daybell guilty of the murder or conspiracy charges, then they will be tasked with deciding if the death penalty should be imposed.

Trump is returning to the site of Pennsylvania assassination attempt for a rally with Vance and Musk

2024-10-06 02:10 Last Updated At：02:21

BUTLER, Pa. (AP) — Donald Trump plans to return Saturday to the site where a gunman tried to assassinate him in July, as the former president sets aside what are now near-constant worries for his physical safety in order to fulfill a promise — “really an obligation,” he said recently — to the people of Butler, Pennsylvania.

“I'll probably start off by saying, ‘As I was saying ...’” the Republican presidential nominee has joked, in a bit of black humor about a speech cut short when a bullet struck Trump's ear and he was whisked off stage — fist aloft — with blood dripping across his face.

Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, also will be on hand at the Butler Farm Show grounds, and billionaire Elon Musk said he will be speaking as the campaign elevates the headline-generating potential of his return with just 30 days to go in their tight campaign against Democratics Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. A billboard on the way into the rally said, “IN MUSK WE TRUST,” and showed his photo.

The Trump campaign predicted tens of thousands of people would the event, billed as a "tribute to the American spirit.” Area hotels, motels and inns were said to be full and some rallygoers arrived Friday.

Hundreds of people were lined up as the sun rose Saturday. A memorial for firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died as he shielded family members from gunfire, was set up in the bleachers, his fireman's jacket set up on display surrounded by flowers. There was a very visible heightened security presence, with armed law enforcers in camouflage uniforms on roofs.

“President Trump looks forward to returning to Butler, Pennsylvania to honor the victims from that tragic day," said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt. "The willingness of Pennsylvanians to join President Trump in his return to Butler represents the strength and resiliency of the American people.”

Trump planned to use the 5 p.m. Eastern time event to remember Comperatore, a volunteer firefighter struck and killed at the July 13 rally, and to recognize the two other rallygoers injured, David Dutch and James Copenhaver. They and Trump were struck when 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, opened fire from an unsecured rooftop nearby before he was fatally shot by sharpshooters.

The building from which Crooks fired was completely obscured by tractor trailers, a large grassy perimeter and a fence. Most bleachers were now at the sides, rather than behind Trump.

How Crooks managed to outmaneuver law enforcement that day and scramble on top of a building within easy shooting distance of the ex-president is among many questions that remain unanswered about the worst Secret Service security failure in decades. Another is his motive.

Butler County District Attorney Rich Goldinger told WPXI-TV this week that “everyone is doubling down on their efforts to make sure this is done safely and correctly.”

Mike Slupe, the county sheriff, told the station he estimates the Secret Service, was deploying ”quadruple the assets” it did in July. The agency has undergone a painful reckoning over its handling of two attempts on Trump’s life.

Butler County, on the western edge of a coveted presidential swing state, is a Trump stronghold. He won the county with about 66% of the vote in both 2016 and 2020. About 57% of the county’s 139,000 registered voters are Republicans, compared with about 29% who are Democrats and 14% something else.

Chris Harpster, 30, of Tyrone, Pennsylvania, was accompanied by his girlfriend on Saturday as he returned to the scene. Of July 13, he said, “I was afraid” -- as were his parents, watching at home, who texted him immediately after the shots rang out.

Heightened security measures were making him feel better now, as well as the presence of his girlfriend, a first-time rallygoer. Harpster said he will be a third-time Trump voter in November, based on the Republican nominee’s stances on immigration, guns, abortion and energy. Harpster said he hopes Pennsylvania will go Republican, particularly out of concern over gas and oil industry jobs.

Other townspeople were divided over the value of Trump's return. Heidi Priest, a Butler resident who started a Facebook group supporting Harris, said Trump's last visit fanned political tensions in the city.

“Whenever you see people supporting him and getting excited about him being here, it scares the people who don’t want to see him reelected,” she said.

Terri Palmquist came from Bakersfield, California, and said her 18-year old daughter tried to dissuade her. “I just figure we need to not let fear control us. That’s what the other side wants is fear. If fear controls us, we lose,” she said.

She said she was not worried about her own safety.

“Honesty, I believe God’s got Trump, for some reason. I do. So we’re rooting for him.”

Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.