Thursday’s hearing is in response to a motion from prosecution to join Lori and her husband Chad Daybell’s trials once again. Initially the two cases were set to go to trial together, but during her arraignment in April Vallow Daybell refused to waive her right to a speedy trial. That led the judge to set her trial date for August while Chad’s is still set for January of 2023. However, the court never officially severed the two cases.
In response to prosecutors’ motion, JA and JT, the attorney’s for Vallow Daybell, say, “Lori Vallow Daybell’s mental health is extremely complex and fragile, and she has the potential to be hospitalized again in the near future.”
Vallow Daybell spent months in Idaho’s mental hospital after being declared incompetent to stand trial in June of 2021. Last month the court declared Vallow Daybell competent, and she was arraigned on the charges against her.
Vallow Daybell’s attorney’s also address claims by some outsiders, including JJ Vallow’s grandparents, that she may be faking her mental illness. They write, “None of the experts employed by the court and the state of Idaho Department of Health and Welfare claim she is malingering or making up her mental illness.” And her attorneys say she will be meeting with a neuropsychologist next month.
The filing also says that while Vallow Daybell does not want to waive her right to a speedy trial, she does understand that if her trial is moved from August to January of next year, “that will give her defense team more time to get ready.” Her attorneys also say, “She (Vallow Daybell) has instructed her attorneys not to file a request for a separate trial.”
In regard to the trial, her attorneys address the large amount of evidence in the case saying, “She understands that her defense team is spending a considerable amount of time going through the mountain of discovery in this case in order to get ready for trial.”
Thursday’s hearing is set to happen remotely.