Lori Vallow Daybell convicted of conspiring to kill her estranged husband in 2019 : NPR

PHOENIX — A girl whose doomsday non secular beliefs led her to kill her two youngest kids and interact in a plot to kill a romantic rival in Idaho was convicted Tuesday in Arizona for conspiring to homicide her estranged husband.

Jurors discovered Lori Vallow Daybell responsible after deliberating for about three hours, and he or she faces one other doable life sentence on high of the three she is already serving in Idaho. She is not going to be sentenced in Arizona till after she goes on trial in one other alleged homicide conspiracy.

Prosecutors stated Vallow Daybell had assist from her brother, Alex Cox, within the July 2019 capturing loss of life of Charles Vallow at her dwelling within the Phoenix suburb of Chandler. They are saying she was motivated by a chance to money in on Vallow’s life insurance coverage coverage and a wedding to then-boyfriend Chad Daybell who wrote a number of non secular novels about prophecies and the tip of the world.

Chad Daybell can be serving life sentences for the deaths of Vallow Daybell’s kids, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and his spouse, Tammy. Authorities in Idaho stated the case included weird claims by Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell that the kids had been zombies and that Vallow Daybell was a goddess tasked with ushering in an apocalypse.

Vallow Daybell, who is not an lawyer however selected to defend herself at trial in Arizona, sat principally nonetheless as the decision was learn however glanced sometimes at jurors as they had been requested to verify they discovered her responsible on the one cost.

One of many jurors, Victoria Lewis, stated outdoors the courthouse that Vallow Daybell did not do herself any favors by selecting to characterize herself.

“Many days she was simply smiling and laughing and did not appear to take something very severely,” Lewis informed reporters.

Vallow Daybell informed the jury that Vallow chased her with a bat inside her dwelling, and her brother shot Vallow in self-defense as she left the home. She informed jurors the loss of life was a tragedy, not a criminal offense.

Cox died 5 months later from what medical experts stated was a blood clot in his lungs.

Vallow’s siblings, Kay Woodcock and Gerry Vallow, informed reporters outdoors courtroom that they’re grateful for the jury’s choice.

“We gotcha, and you are not the neatest individual within the room,” Woodcock stated when requested if she has a message for Vallow Daybell. “All people’s going to overlook about you.”

The Related Press left e mail messages in search of remark Tuesday from the Maricopa County Lawyer’s Workplace, which prosecuted the case, and the attorneys who served as authorized advisers to Vallow Daybell in the course of the trial.

Final week Adam Cox, one other brother of Vallow Daybell, testified on behalf of the prosecution, telling jurors that he had little doubt that his siblings had been behind Vallow’s loss of life.

Adam Cox stated the killing occurred simply earlier than he and Vallow had been planning an intervention to deliver his sister again into the mainstream of their shared religion within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He testified that earlier than Vallow’s loss of life, his sister had informed folks her husband was now not residing and {that a} zombie was residing inside his physique.

4 months earlier than he died, Vallow filed for divorce from Vallow Daybell, saying she had grow to be infatuated with near-death experiences and had claimed to have lived quite a few lives on different planets. He alleged she threatened to spoil him financially and kill him. He sought a voluntary psychological well being analysis of his spouse.

Vallow Daybell is scheduled to go on trial once more in early June, accused in a plot to kill Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell’s niece. Boudreaux survived.