Death sentence for Chad Daybell: Jury condemns Idaho man for ‘especially heinous’ murders

Chad Daybell has been sentenced to death.

The decision to sentence the 55-year-old Rexburg man to the harshest punishment for the murders of his then-wife and two of his new wife’s children came after a nearly two-month trial that saw evidence from over 70 witnesses, many of whom were also called during his wife’s and co-conspirator Lori Vallow Daybell’s criminal trial. The 50-year-old mother was convicted on similar charges in May 2023 and sentenced to life in prison.

While the jurors deliberated, family, friends, journalists and spectators flanked the fourth-floor hallway of the Ada County Courthouse waiting Saturday. Once a decision was reached, the dozens of observers filled up the courtroom to hear the sentence in the penalty phase of the trial.

“The jury has made a finding that it would be appropriate to impose the death penalty,” 7th District Judge Boyce said in court. “The court is directed that the defendant would be sentenced to death on those counts.”

The Daybells, who had a monthslong affair before getting married on a Hawaii beach, were initially expected to be tried together in a double capital murder trial. Their cases were ultimately severed because of new DNA evidence and, just before Lori Vallow Daybell’s trial, the judge removed the death penalty as an option after prosecutors filed voluminous amounts of evidence past deadlines — causing concerns about the defense’s ability to prepare for trial.

The 12-person jury in Chad Daybell’s case deliberated for roughly six hours over two days, finding the murders were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity,” according to the verdict form read in court by the clerk. The jury found that Chad Daybell “exhibited utter disregard for human life” and has a “propensity to commit murder,” which could threaten society.

The jurors also found that Chad Daybell committed the murders for remuneration.

Less than 48 hours earlier, at around 2 p.m. Thursday, those same jurors convicted the 55-year-old father on all eight felony charges he faced, including first-degree murder in the deaths of his then-wife Tammy Daybell and Vallow Daybell’s two youngest children: 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. He also was convicted on three counts of conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of insurance fraud for increasing Tammy Daybell’s life insurance coverage.

“To all those who held Tylee, JJ and Tammy in their hearts, we hope these verdicts bring a measure of healing and closure,” Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood said,” and may the memory of the Tylee, JJ and Tammy continue to be a blessing to all who knew and loved them.”

‘Lost a brother’ but ‘gained an entire family’

In August 2019, Vallow Daybell moved from Arizona to Rexburg, just months after her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed. In the months that followed, her children went missing and Tammy Daybell died in her home.

Tammy Daybell’s death wasn’t initially investigated as suspicious, but her body was exhumed two months later. Utah’s chief medical examiner performed an autopsy and ruled her death a homicide.

Following a lengthy investigation, the Rexburg Police Department discovered the bodies of JJ and Tylee in June 2020. Tylee’s burned and dismembered remains and JJ’s bound body were buried in shallow graves on Chad Daybell’s property in Eastern Idaho.

Authorities have said they believe Vallow Daybell’s brother Alex Cox — who acted as her “protector” — also killed or conspired to kill Tylee, JJ and Tammy Daybell. He died from natural causes in December 2019.

A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Chad Daybell believed he received personal revelations from God that told him certain people — including Vallow Daybell’s children and Tammy Daybell — were possessed by dark spirits and would need to be “cast out,” or killed, according to witness testimony.

The couple also believed that the world would end in July 2020 and that they’d lead a group of 144,000 people who the Book of Revelation in the Bible said would be saved during the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

The prosecution accused the Daybells of using religion as a tool to manipulate others, including Cox, saying in the indictment that they espoused religious beliefs “for the purpose of justifying” or encouraging the homicides.

“This case has been about speaking for and seeking justice for the lives of three wonderful humans whose lives were cut way too short by the selfish desires of the defendant and his co-defendant Lori Vallow (Daybell),” Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake said. “We are pleased with the outcome and that justice has been served for the victims in this case.”

Several of the children and Tammy Daybell’s family members gathered outside the Ada County Courthouse along with prosecutors, and dozens of law enforcement members, on Saturday.

“The hardest part of I think about all of this is that our family has lost a brother, but in the process of it, we’ve almost gained an entire family,” Tammy Daybell’s brother-in-law, Jason Gwilliam, told reporters, referencing Tylee and JJ’s family members.

Chad Daybell chose not to present witnesses during sentencing

Following Thursday’s guilty verdict, the court began the penalty phase of the case, where the jurors decided whether to sentence Chad Daybell to death. While this phase of the sentencing could’ve taken anywhere from a day to a few weeks, in an extraordinarily uncommon move, it lasted only three hours.

Typically, a defendant facing the death penalty would bring in a mitigation specialist who’d perform an exhaustive investigation into their life, looking for any information that might humanize them or help their case — such as any mental health concerns or generational trauma. They’d also present evidence from experts, along with testimony from family and friends.

“This is, literally, the lifesaving evidence,” Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robin Maher told the Idaho Statesman in an interview.

Chad Daybell chose not to present any mitigating factors, evidence or witnesses as to why he shouldn’t receive the death penalty.

Just before the jurors were brought into the courtroom, Judge Boyce repeatedly asked Daybell whether he was certain he wanted to proceed without presenting any evidence — adding that it doesn’t have to excuse the crimes and “inspires sympathy, compassion or mercy.”

“Mr. Daybell, the purpose of these rights is to potentially present evidence to the jury that could result in them finding that the death penalty should not be imposed in your case. Do you understand that?” Boyce asked.

“I do,” Daybell responded.

“I’m also advised then that you do not intend to — despite the preparation of mitigation from your attorney — you don’t intend to present that evidence at this hearing. Is that your choice?” Boyce asked.

“That is my choice,” Daybell said.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reallow the death penalty, the court ruled in a 1978 case that defendants in capital cases are entitled to “individualized sentencing determinations” and that mitigating factors should be considered.

“It’s not for the worst crimes, it’s only for the worst persons,” Maher said about capital punishment.

In Daybell’s case, the jurors were asked to decide whether he should be sentenced to death without any of that “lifesaving” evidence that is “so fundamental” to their decision, Maher said. She added that some courts have decided that mitigation evidence should be presented despite a defendant’s opposition, because of how important that information can be.

Both Maher and University of Idaho Associate Professor of Law Samuel Newton told the Statesman that capital cases can be overturned when insufficient mitigation factors were presented, but that’s typically when the defense attorney doesn’t present any or enough evidence, not when a client opts out.

“He is choosing not to present any evidence that would save his life,” Maher said.

Daybell will now join seven men awaiting death at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south of Boise. Robin Row — the only woman on Idaho’s death row — is in custody at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center.

The last person to be sentenced to death in Idaho was 36-year-old Jonathan Daniel Renfro for the murder of Coeur d’Alene Police Sgt. Greg Moore. He was sentenced in 2017 and is still on death row.

“It’s a weird feeling,” Colby Ryan, Lori Vallow Daybell’s eldest son and only surviving child, told reporters.

“You never wish harm on anybody regardless of what they’ve done to you, but at the end of the day, it’s good that he can’t hurt anybody else — and that’s what matters.”