Who Could Be Turning?

Let's spill some tea -
will Chad turn on Lori or
vice versa?

August 19, 2020

Oddly, the answer to this question starts with the death penalty and a bunch of death penalty statistics.  In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down capital punishment statutes in Furman v. Georgia, and reduced all pending death sentences to life imprisonment.  Following that ruling, some states began reintroducing the death penalty with statutes that complied with the Furman decision.  Presently, 28 states, the federal government and the U.S. military have the death penalty.  Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia do not. Death penalty convictions have been on the decline. Convictions peaked with 279 in 1999; in 2019, there were just 34 death penalty convictions. The decrease illustrates a change in social and legal attitudes. Organizations like the Innocence Project, and documentaries like The Innocence Files and Innocent on Death Row illustrate the danger of wrongful convictions.

Some states, like Oregon, still have a death penalty statute on the books but have an ongoing moratorium on executions.  Critics of lethal injection dispute the claims of a painless death, and the chemicals used in those executions are becoming harder for states to procure. The statistics seem to show the tide turning against the death penalty and in favor of life without parole sentences, also called true life and natural life sentences.

There are two states where Chad and/or Lori could be charged. The first is Idaho.  Idaho has executed only three people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977.  There are presently seven men and one woman on Idaho’s death row.  The three executions took place in 1994, 2011, and 2012.

The Idaho death row inmates are: Thomas Creech who was sentenced to death in 1983.  He was already serving two life sentences when he was convicted of beating a fellow inmate to death. Gerald Pizzuto came to death row in 1986 for the beating deaths of two people. His appeals focus on whether he is intellectually disabled.  Timothy Dunlap has been on death row since 1992.  He also has a death sentence in Ohio. He was convicted of killing his girlfriend with a crossbow in Ohio, then killing a bystander in a bank robbery in Idaho a few days later. Robin Row, the only woman on Idaho’s death row was sentenced to death in 1993 for the arson deaths of her husband, son, and daughter.  James Hairston’s execution of two elderly people for money landed him on death row in 1996. Erick Hall was sentenced to death once in 2004 an once in 2007 for the kidnap, rape, and murder of two women. Abdullah Azad began his death row sentence in 2004 for the arson murder of his wife, and Jonathan Renfro received his death penalty conviction in 2017 for the shooting death of a police officer.

I include this information as background. In all the cases currently on death row, the convicted person was the direct cause of the victim(s) death. The first hurdle for Idaho prosecutor Rob Wood will be to connect Chad and/or Lori to the actual mechanisms of death. In other words, Wood will have to prove it was Chad or Lori who killed Tylee and JJ, and not Alex Cox, acting as the cult hitman. Likewise, if the autopsy results for Tammy Daybell reveal she was poisoned, Wood will have to prove Chad was the one who tipped the potion into Tammy’s food or drink.  Because these suspects used a lot of communications devices and applications, charges of conspiracy to commit murder will probably be easier for Wood to prove. While the statute in Idaho says that the penalty for conspiracy is the same as for the underlying crime of first-degree murder, I don’t think Wood gets to the death penalty that way.  And, without the death penalty as leverage, I don’t see Rob Wood getting Chad or Lori turning on one other. Is there anything else that could create that same kind of leverage in Idaho? I don’t think so.  Rob Wood would have to make significant concessions, and because of the nature of the crimes, I don’t see him doing that. 
 
Yes, you say, but what about Arizona? The State of Arizona has a more robust relationship with the death penalty that Idaho.  Since they reinstated the law in 1976, there have been 37 executions. There are three women and 116 men currently on death row.  In some of those cases, there was more than one person involved.  Several cases involve the deaths of children. There are no cases, however, that involve only conspiracy to commit murder or an apparent murder for hire. While I don’t see a charge that would allow Arizona to use the death penalty as leverage, I do see something that could break the cases open.

Stick with me here; I’m about to dive into the weeds.  The possible charge in Arizona for Lori is conspiracy to commit murder which stems from the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Conspiricy to commit first-degree murder is punishable by life in prison without eligibility for parole until the defendant has served 25 years. Conspiracy to commit second-degree murder is punishable by life in prison with the possibility of parole after 16 years, but if there are mitigating factors, the minimum served could be decreased to ten years;  if there are aggravating factors, the minimum could be increased to 25 years. These charges might offer space for negotiation, especially if the Idaho authorities are unable to connect Chad or Lori to the actual act of killing Tylee, JJ, or Tammy. The Arizona authorities could offer Lori a plea to conspiracy to commit second-degree murder for Charles Vallow, with a 10-year minimum sentence in return for her giving up information about Chad’s involvement in Idaho, especially if the information connects him directly to causing Tammy’s death.
   
For this to happen, the prosecutors in Arizona and Rob Wood and the Idaho Attorney General’s office would have to get together and fashion a global deal that would resolve all of Lori’s charges in both states. It’s complicated, but not impossible. 

In terms of personality, I think Lori is the more pragmatic (some might say calculating) of the two.  She is more likely to see the benefit of the possibility of parole in ten years, rather than 25.  Lori is 47 years old, so the deal could be the difference between being paroled at age 57 or age 72.
 
The charges in Idaho are less clear cut than Arizona. It appears that Alex Cox was the one who actually killed Tylee and JJ and that Chad and Lori were accessories and conspirators. It also seems likely that Chad was the one who caused Tammy’s death. If Idaho can get the full story out of Lori, and better still, if she leads them to some physical evidence to support her story, they convict Chad for murdering Tammy. In return, Idaho might be willing to forgo their own conspiracy to commit murder charges against Lori and allow her to be sentenced in Arizona. Lori would probably plead guilty to the current charges of concealing or destroying evidence and perhaps some other charges, depending on the evidence. Idaho authorities could even agree to let their convictions run concurrently with the Arizona sentence. And yes, I feel the outrage that she might not be punished directly for her role in the death of her children, but if the prosecutors in both states don’t get creative and Chad and Lori remain united, the outcome could be worse.

None of us know what evidence the prosecutors in either state have, so this is all educated speculation on my part, based on the evidence we've all seen so far.  Still, if investigators can’t prove either Chad or Lori actually did the killing, this may be the best outcome available.  And don’t shoot the messenger.