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Prosecutor Withdraws Contest Of Psychological Report Concluding Lori Vallow 'Not Competent' To Stand Trial
A judge last month ordered a stay in the case against Lori Vallow, who's accused in the murders of her children Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow, so the mother can undergo a treatment plan to restore her competency.
Idaho Special Prosecutor Rob Wood has withdrawn his contest to a psychological report that determined Lori Vallow was “not competent” to stand trial.
Wood had initially opposed the judge’s decision last month to stay the case, but opted to withdraw his contest after further review of Vallow’s psychological report and “corresponding data” by the state’s own expert, according to a new court filing Friday obtained by Oxygen.com.
Prosecutors also do “not object to a medical physician’s evaluation and diagnosis of the Defendant” or the “corresponding treatment plan for the purpose of restoring the Defendant’s competence.”
Last month, District Judge Steven Boyce issued an order staying the cases against Vallow, referencing a psychological assessment that concluded the Idaho mom was “not competent to proceed.”
Vallow's attorneys had requested the competency hearing on her behalf in March.
While the case against her has been stayed, Boyce will still be required to declare her legally unfit for trial, according to East Idaho News.
Based on the laws in the state, to be considered fit for trial, Vallow would need to understand the proceedings against her and be able to participate in her own defense.
Vallow and husband Chad Daybell are both facing first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges in the death of her children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, after the children's bodies were discovered buried on Daybell’s property in June of 2020, months after they had mysteriously disappeared.
Daybell is also facing murder charges in connection with the death of his first wife, Tammy Daybell, 49, who died in the couple’s home in October of 2019.
Daybell, a doomsday religious author, and Vallow got married in Hawaii just two weeks later.
Those close to the couple said they had adopted a bizarre set of religious beliefs before Vallow’s children disappeared.
Vallow’s friend Melanie Gibb told investigators that Vallow had become convinced that many of her family members—including JJ and Tylee—had become “zombies,” according to a probable cause statement obtained by Oxygen.com.
According to Gibb, “zombies” was a term Vallow used to describe someone whose spirit had left their body and been replaced by a “dark spirit.”
“At some point after Gibb first learned of this doctrine from Vallow and Daybell, she was informed by Daybell and Vallow that they believed it was their mission to rid the world of zombies,” Lt. Ron Ball wrote in the probable cause statement.
The children both disappeared, weeks apart, in September of 2019 shortly after the family had moved to Rexburg, Idaho, where Daybell was residing with his family.
Daybell, who is also facing two charges of insurance fraud connected to his wife's death, is slated to appear for an arraignment on Wednesday.
