Launch Party and Is Lori Incompetent again?

Hello again! This newsletter will be much shorter than the last, but we have a few things to talk about.

First, my YouTube Channel, Children of Darkness and Light, will debut live on Friday, October 14, at 6 pm Pacific time. We will discuss the hearings scheduled for Thursday, October 13, 2022. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/qRguPBu8GXg. Thank you to the 491 who have already subscribed, and especially Neva Stanford, who was the first to subscribe.

If you are in the Boise area, please join me on October 15, 2022, at 5 pm for a no-host happy hour at Ten Barrel Brewing, 826 W Bannock St., Boise, ID 83702, to celebrate the start of my YouTube Channel.

In my last newsletter, I outlined all the motions recently filed by both defense attorneys. One of them, Lori Vallow’s attorney’s Motion to Continue Trial, to Toll Time Limits, and to Stay Case, has resulted in a major development in the case.

On October 6, 2022, Judge Steven Boyce issued an order outlining the recent developments. According to the order, after receiving an Ex Parte Affidavit from Lori’s attorneys, he called an exigent hearing to authorize giving the affidavit to the prosecution. The judge then set a quick hearing to discuss the matter. The judge properly closed that hearing because, under Idaho law, proceedings involving the defendant’s medical or mental health condition are private. As a result of that closed hearing, the judge ordered that Vallow’s case be suspended until it can be determined if she is fit to stand trial. What happens next will be a repeat of what happened last year. Lori will be evaluated by a psychologist who meets the professional criteria set out by the laws of Idaho. If she is found incompetent again, she will be committed to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) for further treatment to restore her to competence.

For those familiar with the motions I filed to unseal documents, this is an interesting development, not because of Lori’s competence but because of how the court handled the documentation and sealed files. For the first time, the court made written findings that outlined his decision process in sealing the proceedings and the documents. Changing how they do things clearly indicates that I was right; they were not doing things correctly before.

I know many people are frustrated and upset with this development, none more so than JJ’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock. Some people seem to think Lori is malingering or faking her condition, but as someone who has dealt with clients in this situation, I think it’s difficult (but not impossible) to pretend to have this level of mental illness.

When documents are filed in court, attorneys review them with their clients. Chad Daybell’s motion to sever the case contained some information that Lori, no doubt, found upsetting. In the motion, Prior writes, “Based on the allegations in this case, one of the plainly available defenses would be to demonstrate that Ms. Vallow and her brother, Alex Cox, were responsible for the crimes alleged and that they acted as part of their own conspiracy that did not involve Mr. Daybell. As part of that defense, Mr. Daybell would seek to introduce the prior bad acts of both Ms. Vallow and Mr. Cox, as well as evidence regarding their relationship and the death of Mr. Cox, and the past statements of Mr. Cox. Ms. Vallow’s prior bad acts would bear upon motive, intent and plan. Particularly, Ms. Vallow’s alleged involvement in the murder of her ex-husband – who Mr. Cox told police that he had shot – plainly bears upon the issue of whether Ms. Vallow and Mr. Cox had an ongoing conspiracy that preceded the core acts alleged in this case. As such, Lori Vallow’s previous conduct easily meets the relevance standard for Reverse-404(B); in fact, this information goes straight to the heart of Mr. Daybell’s; potential defenses, including any defenses that he did not commit the crimes alleged, that he was not engaged in the conspiracy, and he had no knowledge of what occurred. The alternative perpetrator evidence ‘is consistent with, and raises a reasonable doubt of, [Mr. Daybell’s] own guilt’ such that Mr. Daybell has the constitutional right to introduce the evidence, regardless of state evidentiary rules.”

I can imagine reading that caused Lori a great deal of distress. If, as I believe, Lori remains firmly enmeshed in her belief that she and Chad are God’s chosen and that God will protect them if they are only faithful, Chad’s seeming defection might have been enough to cause her decompensation. Let’s remember the lengths she went to at her last hearing to communicate her solidarity with Chad by wearing a hair-tie wedding ring.

A recent question from a subscriber asked, “Can Lori plead not guilty by reason of insanity and go free? The short answer is no, but don’t ever expect short answers from me – after all, I’m a lawyer. We’ve discussed this before, but here’s a refresher.

Idaho is one of four states that does not recognize the insanity defense. The only way to get a person’s mental health before a jury is to claim that they were so ill they couldn’t form the required mental state. You might recall every crime requires that the person commits the crime with a particular mental state. The most common are knowingly, intentionally, and recklessly. For someone in Idaho to escape conviction, they would have to prove they were so insane they couldn’t form the intention. That’s a tall ask. I think Lori’s attorneys say she was so delusional that she believed her children were zombies and not people. I don’t think that flies, though. In those sorts of cases, the delusional person rarely goes to great lengths to cover their crimes and rarely runs off to Hawaii to await the end times. The case of Andrea Yates comes to mind. She was a woman with severe mental illness who drowned her five children in the bathtub because she believed she saved them from being inhabited by Satan. She thought she was justified, so she freely told the police what she had done.

There is also a difference between a person’s mental state at the time of the crime and the person’s competency at the time of trial. In states with the insanity defense, the issue is whether the person was competent at the time of the crime. In Lori’s case, the question is whether she is competent now. A person must understand their trial proceedings and assist their attorney. If, as has been the case with Lori, the defendant can’t aid and assist, they are sent for restorative treatment until they can.

Lori’s case was stayed on May 27, 2021, because she was incompetent, and she was committed to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for treatment. Lori spent nearly eleven months in treatment and was declared competent on April 11, 2022. You may recall there was an early evaluation period, and at first, Lori refused to take medication, forcing the court to order that she take it. That order is still effective, and I suspect her stay in treatment will be shorter because her treatment providers are already familiar with her case and her diagnosis. The judge has vacated the January trial date as it applies to Lori.

John Prior also asked for a continuance on Chad’s behalf. With Lori incompetent, and John Prior claiming that he can’t provide effective assistance of counsel without more time, I expect the judge will agree to a later trial date for both. It remains to be seen if the judge will rule on Prior’s motion to sever. He could wait, saying it’s too early to decide because of the stay in Lori’s case. However, if he does choose to sever the cases now, he could set Daybell’s trial any time next year and set Lori’s after she becomes competent.

Thanks again for all your support and encouragement. I look forward to seeing you in chat on Friday!