Lori Vallow Daybell receives additional life sentences in Arizona, ending legal saga

PHOENIX (AP) — Lori Vallow Daybell was sentenced to life in prison Friday on two murder conspiracy convictions in Arizona, marking an end to a winding legal saga for the mother with doomsday religious beliefs who claimed people in her life had been possessed by evil spirits.

Vallow Daybell, already serving life sentences in Idaho in the killings of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, was convicted at separate trials this spring in Phoenix of conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, and her niece’s ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux.

Vallow Daybell, who chose to represent herself in both Arizona cases even though she isn’t a lawyer, used her final testimony to complain about jail conditions and the legal system.

“If I were accountable for these crimes, I would acknowledge and let you know how sorry I was,” she said.

Judge says Vallow Daybell should never be released

Judge Justin Beresky said Vallow Daybell has “shown blatant disregard for humanity,” and he refuted her claim that she didn’t get a fair trial in Arizona.

“You should never be released from prison,” Beresky said before handing down the sentence. “Eventually, the camera that you seek out, the media requests, will lessen over time and you will fade into obscurity.”

Authorities say Vallow Daybell carried out the plots with her brother Alex Cox, who acknowledged killing Vallow in July 2019 and was identified by prosecutors as the person who fired at Boudreaux months later but missed.

Prosecutors said Vallow Daybell conspired to kill Vallow so she could collect on his $1 million life insurance policy and marry her then-boyfriend Chad Daybell, an Idaho author of religious novels about prophecies and the end of the world. They said Boudreaux suspected Vallow Daybell and Cox were responsible for Vallow’s death.

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said the trial was a long but necessary process to get justice for Vallow, Boudreaux and their families. Vallow Daybell will return to Idaho “knowing she didn’t get away with her crimes committed in Maricopa County,” Mitchell told reporters after the hearing.