Lori Vallow files appeal to overturn conviction and life sentence

FREMONT COUNTY, Idaho (TCD) -- Lori Vallow’s attorney filed an appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court last week arguing her conviction and sentence should be overturned after she was found guilty of killing her two children as part of a "doomsday" belief.

Vallow was sentenced in July to three life sentences for killing her 16-year-old daughter, Tylee, and her 7-year-old son, JJ, as well as plotting to kill her husband’s former wife, Tammy Daybell. Her children’s remains were found in June 2020, almost a year after Tylee and JJ were last seen alive. JJ’s hands and legs had been tied together and he had a plastic bag over his head, while Tylee had been dismembered and burned.

The appeal, which was filed Aug. 31, lists multiple reasons, including the argument that  prosecutors made a "fundamental reversible error" in opening statements, didn’t allow her a right to a speedy trial, and refused to send Vallow back to a mental hospital after defense attorneys requested it. The document also says the prosecution did not "amend the grand jury indictment two years after the indictment was filed without sending the case back to the grand jury," among other arguments.

The Rexburg Standard Journal reports Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake said during the opening statement that Vallow’s case was about "money, power, and sex" and how she "used money, power, and sex — or the promise of those things — to get what she wanted. She wanted Chad Daybell."

At her sentencing hearing, Vallow reportedly said she could speak with the "spirit world" and believed JJ and Tylee weren’t sad about being dead.

NBC News reports she said, "Jesus knows me and Jesus understands me. I mourn with all of you who mourn my children and Tammy. Jesus Christ knows the truth of what happened here, Jesus Christ knows no one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen, suicides happen, fatal side effects from medications happen."

Vallow and Daybell reportedly had extreme religious views that eventually made them believe JJ and Tylee were "dark" and had evil spirits in them, which turned them into "zombies." They allegedly thought the only way to get rid of the dark spirits was through death, according to The Associated Press.

Vallow’s husband is scheduled to go on trial in April 2024.

MORE:

• State of Idaho vs. Lori Vallow
• Vallow-Daybell files appeal with Idaho Supreme Court - Rexburg Standard Journal
• Lori Vallow sentenced to 3 life terms in prison for deaths of 2 of her children and husband’s first wife, 7/31/2023 - TCD
• Lori Vallow convicted of killing her 2 kids and plotting to kill husband Chad Daybell’s first wife, 5/12/2023 - TCD
• Lori Vallow Daybell gets multiple life sentences in murders of her 2 kids and romantic rival, speaks of 'spirit world' in court, 7/31/2023 - NBC News
• Doomsday plot: Idaho jury convicts woman in murders of 2 children, romantic rival, 5/12/2023 - The Associated Press