Chad Daybell's attorney asks court to drop charges, cites insufficient evidence
Chad Daybell's attorney filed a motion Tuesday asking an Idaho judge to dismiss Daybell's case, saying sufficient evidence was not presented during his preliminary hearing. (Photo: KUTV)
FREMONT COUNTY, ID (KUTV) — Chad Daybell's attorney filed a motion Thursday asking an Idaho judge to dismiss Daybell's case, saying sufficient evidence was not presented during his preliminary hearing.
East Idaho News reports John Prior filed the motion with District Judge Steven Boyce nearly a month after Daybell appeared in court. During the hearing, Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins ruled there was sufficient evidence have the case advance to district court.
Prior argues the whole case should be thrown out.
Daybell plead not guilty in August to two felony counts of conspiracy commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence, and two felony counts of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence.
The charges were filed against him in June after the bodies of his stepchildren, 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow, were found on his Idaho property. Daybell married the children’s mother, Lori Vallow, in November 2019, two months after the children were last seen.
“The charges are not supported by the evidence and duplicative as allegations against the defendant,” Prior wrote. “Further, the prosecution has yet to present evidence to support when the alleged acts is (sic) supposedly to have taken place and if the defendant acted in any manner to support the allegations.”
East Idaho News reports Prior claimed the accusations against Daybell are “vague and board” in the criminal complaint filed by special prosecutor Rob Wood. Prior also said Daybell’s constitutional rights are being violated because he can’t be “fairly notified and apprised of when, how and what he is accused of doing.”
Prior requested a transcript of the preliminary hearing, and that a hearing to dismiss the charges be pushed out to give him enough time to review evidence and the transcript.
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Daybell's jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2020 to Jan. 29, 2020 in Fremont County.
Prior has until Oct. 20 to file a motion if he wants to move the trial "to another venue to avoid potential jury bias," according to East Idaho News.
Vallow is also awaiting her jury trial scheduled for January 2021 in Madison County. She was charged with resisting arrest or obstructing officers, contempt of court and solicitation to commit a crime in February. She plead not guilty. Two felony charges were filed against her in Fremont County for conspiracy to destroy, alter or conceal evidence related to the deaths of her children.
She has not yet entered a plea for these charges and waived her right to a preliminary hearing in Fremont County last month.
The case spans multiple states and several deaths, including Daybell's late wife Tammy and Vallow's late husband Charles Vallow.
Charles Vallow was shot by Lori Vallow's brother in July 2019, a few months before Lori moved to Rexburg, Idaho with her kids. Chad and Lori wed two weeks after Tammy Daybell died in her sleep. Her body has been exhumed and officials are conducting an autopsy. Police in Arizona have said they plan to file charges against Lori Vallow in the death of the fourth husband, Charles.
Individuals charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
