Idaho Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty for Chad Daybell

They cite his 'utter disregard for human life'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 6, 2021 8:29 AM CDT
Idaho Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty for Chad Daybell
This March 6, 2020 hoto shows Lori Vallow Daybell, left, during a hearing in Rexburg, Idaho.   (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool, File)

Prosecutors in Idaho want Chad Daybell to join the eight prisoners on the state's death row. In documents filed Thursday, prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty if Daybell is found guilty of crimes including the first-degree murders of wife Tammy Daybell and the two children of Lori Vallow, the woman he married two weeks after Tammy Daybell's death, USA Today reports. Prosecutors said any or all of the murders would qualify for the death penalty for reasons including his actions being "especially heinous, atrocious, cruel, or manifesting exceptional depravity" and Daybell's "utter disregard for human life," reports the Idaho Statesman.

Daybell was arrested in June last year after the bodies of 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan were found on his rural Idaho property. The children had not been seen since September 2019, weeks before Daybell married Vallow in Hawaii. Vallow has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the death of Tammy Daybell—and in connection with the death of Charles Vallow, her fourth husband, who was killed by her brother in July 2019. Daybell is a religious "end times" author, and prosecutors say the couple justified the killings with their doomsday beliefs, the AP reports. His trial is scheduled for November but Vallow's case has been paused. She was committed to a mental health facility in June in what a court said was an effort "to restore competency for trial." (More Chad Daybell stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X