FILE: Lori Vallow, aka Lori Daybell, appears in court in Kauai, Hawaii, on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. (Pool photograph)
SALT LAKE CITY — An Idaho judge has granted a request by Lori Vallow Daybell to restrict the use of cameras or other recording devices in the courtroom when the cases against Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell go to trial in early 2023.
In the order, Seventh District Judge Steven W. Boyce cited the need for a fair trial by an impartial jury. Another determining factor, the Judge said, was that both the state of Idaho and the defendant had requested no video or photographic coverage of the trial.
The Judge also made it clear that the order is not an attempt to prohibit media coverage of the trial. Rather, the judge said, the order defines the scope of media activity in relation to the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell.
In the order, Judge Boyce agreed that the case had received significant and worldwide media attention. The judge said he had seen no media misconduct in prior hearings. But he noted one instance that was concerning.
“The Court concurs with Defendant’s argument that the footage of the August 16 hearing demonstrates an inordinate focus on the Defendant, zooming onto her face throughout the vast majority of the hearing, regardless of who was speaking or what was happening,” Judge Boyce wrote in his order.
Daybell is charged with conspiracy to commit the murders of her two children. The bodies of 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua Vallow were found in Rexburg, Idaho, on Sept. 23, 2019.
The state of Idaho has charged Daybell along with her husband Chad Daybell. Judge Boyce ruled the trials will be held together in early 2023.