LORI Vallow’s team has requested a new trial after highlighting three issues that they had with the guilty ruling.
The so-called cult mom was found guilty on May 12 of murdering her children JJ, seven, and Tylee, 16, as well as conspiring to kill her current husband’s former wife.
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Lori’s team had two weeks to file a motion for a new trial and did so on the final day that the judge would allow.
The lawyers said that some jurors were confused by instructions and cited an interview conducted by East Idaho News.
The local outlet chatted with one of the jurors who proved that the distinction between demonstrative evidence and character evidence was unclear when discussing the shooting of Lori’s fourth husband, Charles Vallow, Lori’s team says.
Lori has been accused of conspiring to kill him while living in Arizona with the help of her brother Alex Cox.
Evidence surrounding the killing was allowed in the trial in order for the jury to get to know Lori’s character, or how people perceived her.
However, the juror told the local outlet: “We didn’t consider this during our deliberations, because it was clear to us, the instructions were clear, Arizona evidence and testimony is only for demonstrative purposes,” local NBC affiliate KTVB reports.
The juror went on to say that he thought Arizona police dropped the ball in their investigation into Charles’ death.
Lori’s team says believes that this is a clear indication that the rules were not properly laid out to the jury, and are using it as evidence to get a second trial.
Their next claim involves the number of people who allegedly conspired to commit the sick crimes together.
The defense claims that the court allowed for the jury to only consider a conspiracy of two people.
The pairings were either Lori and her fifth husband Chad Daybell, Lori and her brother Alex Cox, or Chad and Alex.
However, in the indictment, the team said it states that at least five people, including those three, entered into a conspiracy.
“To have the government and the court permit a conspiracy of just two people instead of five was prejudicial and unlawful, and should require a new trial” the motion reads.
And finally, Lori’s team claims that a statute of grand theft, which Lori was convicted of, was not clarified by the jury.
The lawyers said that the government changed the statute while amending the indictment for a clerical error two years after charges were filed.
“Whether the language of the grand theft charge included ‘intent to deprive’ or ‘intent to deceive’ was an element of proof to be determined by the trial jury, and should not have been amended by the government,” the lawyers claim.
Prosecutors are allowed to submit a response to the motion, but it has not been filed yet.
Lori made headlines for enjoying a honeymoon in Hawaii with her new husband Chad after her children disappeared in September 2019.
The following year, their bodies were discovered buried in makeshift graves on Chad’s Idaho property.
Vallow is not facing the death penalty for the murders of her children but could be sent to prison for the rest of her life.
A sentencing hearing is expected in about three months.
Meanwhile, a new indictment against Vallow in Maricopa County has emerged.
She stands accused of conspiring to kill her niece’s ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux.
A jury indicted her in February 2022 but the charge was only recently made public, Fox 10 Phoenix reported.
Police in Gilbert, Arizona, allege that Vallow and her brother Alex Cox – who died in December 2019 – conspired to kill Boudreaux, who was formerly married to Vallow’s niece.
Boudreaux was allegedly shot at in October 2019 by someone in a gray Jeep Wrangler.
He told cops that someone pointed a gun out of a window and shot at him in the driveway of his Gilbert home, though the bullet missed.
Investigators got their hands on surveillance footage that showed Alex and Lori unloading a gray Jeep Wrangler.
Additionally, authorities have digital evidence linking Cox to the Gilbert area close to when the shooting occurred, Fox 10 Phoenix reported.
Vallow’s current husband Chad Daybell is expected to stand trial for allegedly murdering her children next year.
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