Summary of tweets for Thursday, April 20th - State witness:
Chandler Police Detective Nathan Moffatt
Nate Eaton
@NateNewsNow
·
50m
Today is day 13 of Lori Vallow Daybell’s murder trial. I am back inside the Ada County Courthouse waiting to go upstairs to the courtroom. So far, 16 witnesses have been called by the prosecution to testify.
Court was dismissed yesterday at the conclusion of April Raymond’s testimony we begin today with a new witness on the stand. Here is a recap of what happened yesterday.
The bailiff is reminding everyone in the courtroom that a courtroom conduct order remains in effect. Phones must be silenced and there is absolutely no audio or video recording of the proceedings.
Bailiff asks spectators to save whispering for the breaks and minimize candy wrapper crinkling. "If you have a Lifesaver fetish, please open your candy now."
All the attorneys have left the courtroom (I assume they are meeting with the judge) and Lori remains at her table looking down while scribbling notes.
Attorneys have just walked back into the courtroom. Judge Boyce is on the bench and jurors are about to be brought in.
Boyce says some scheduling issues and other matters have come up that will be discussed later today. Prosecution and defense say they are both ready to proceed today with the next witness.
Prosecution calls Chandler Police Det. Nathan Moffatt to the stand. Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake will question him.
Moffatt is dressed in a suit with a purple shirt and tie. He has worked for the Chandler Police Dept. for 21 years.
Archibald objects to the witness because he says anything that happened in Arizona is not relevant to the trial in Idaho. Boyce says the court made a ruling about this in February and the objection is overruled.
Moffatt responded to the shooting on the day Charles Vallow was killed. He says Alex Cox called 911. When Moffatt arrived, patrol officers were on scene. Moffatt was assigned to be the case agent. He was briefed by patrol, walked through the scene and went back to the station.
Moffatt did not see Lori at the scene but he saw Charles dead on the living room floor. Moffatt interviewed Alex at the police station. Alex said he had spent the night at Lori's house because they planned on doing something the next day.
Alex said Charles and Lori were in an argument when Lori came into his room and Alex intervened between Lori and Charles. Alex did not indicate what the disagreement was about and he told Moffatt he never saw the fight get physical.
Alex said Tylee came out of her room with a bat during the argument to protect her mother. Charles took the bat, there was an argument over the bat and Alex said Charles hit him with the bat in the back of the head.
Moffatt observed a small laceration on the back of Alex's head "but it wasn't consistent with being hit extremely hard in the back of the head with a baseball bat by an athletic man."
Alex said after he was hit in the head, he went into his room to get his gun. Alex said he told Charles to drop the bat. Charles said, "What are you going to do about it?" and then came toward Alex when Alex pulled the trigger "more than once."
Alex said he thought he shot Charles in the torso area. Moffatt says Charles was shot twice - once in the chest, once in the lower abdomen.
Alex said after the shooting, he went into the kitchen and washed his hands. He then went into his room and called 911. Alex told Moffatt he had done CPR on Charles. Alex said he did not know where Tylee and JJ were at the time of the shooting.
Alex told Moffatt multiple times that he was not at the house to protect Lori. But Lori was in another room being questioned and told her interviewing detective that she had called Alex over the night before to protect her from Charles.
Moffatt went back to the house after the interview and the scene was being processed for evidence. One bullet strike landed in the baseboard and another was under Charles' body. Moffatt says the bullet was consistent with Charles being flat on the floor when he was shot.
Following the police interviews, Moffatt says he and Det. Ynclan drove back to the house with Alex, Tylee and Lori. He says the ride was "bizarre - to say the least." The conversation was lighthearted, conversational and "very different."
Moffatt received a promotion in July 2020 and was no longer the case agent. Det. Nathan Duncan took over. (Yes, they are both named Nathan. We have two Nates in our newsroom and yes, it gets confusing at times).
Blake asks Moffatt if finances are often a motive for homicide. He says yes. Moffatt says they learned Charles had a $1 million policy and there had been a recent change in the beneficiary. It had recently been changed from Lori to Kay Woodcock.
When Moffatt contacted the insurance company on July 17, he learned Lori had tried to file a claim. It was denied and Lori never received a payout.
Lindsey Blake has no further questions for Moffatt. Jim Archibald says he objects the Moffatt's entire testimony and has no questions for him. Moffatt is released from the witness stand.
link:
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