Claiming defamation and false coverage, convicted killer and so-called “doomsday cult parent Lori Vallow is asking the court to limit media access in her forthcoming Arizona murder trial.
Last month, Vallow, who is representing herself, objected to Court TV broadcasting the hearings to the Maricopa County Superior Court requesting the judge to prohibit Court TV from showing the proceedings as she faced a second set of murder accusations.
Vallow, who has already been found guilty of killing her two children and her husband’s ex-wife, wrote in court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, “Court TV should be ashamed of its very nature and its request since its objective is not to bring people real news or facts but instead its objective is to entertain the public with the very true-life tragedies that happen in real people’s life.”
Vallow continued to assert that Court TV was utilizing photographs of her and her husband Chad Daybell in advertising for the network, claiming the couple’s portrayal had “falsely characterized, libeled, and slandered”. Daybell’s death sentence in Idaho for his part in the murders of J.J. Vallow, Tylee Ryan, and Tammy Daybell
“This gives [Vallow] a great degree of control over the case, and she has little to lose, since she’s already been sentenced to life in prison in Idaho,” Chicago-based attorney Andrew Stoltmann told Fox News digital. “She may be intending to turn this case into a three-ring circus, and the best way to do that is by representing yourself.”
Based on the iconic OJ Simpson trial, judges can have a more personal view of letting cameras inside courtrooms and worry it will cause more damage than benefit for the proceedings, claims Stoltmann.
“There’s a philosophical believe that it’s good for the public to see the judicial process in action,” Stoltmann added. “There are also valid issues that it tends to turn the attorneys and witnesses into actors who play up to the camera, which is typically not in the defendant’s best interest.”
Court TV did not reply right away to Fox News Digital’s inquiry for comments.
Titling the coverage “ID v. Lori Vallow Daybell: Doomsday Cult Mom Trial,” the network earlier broadcast pre-trial events for Vallow’s forthcoming case.
The complaint surfaces as Vallow gets ready for her second trial. A grand jury charged her with attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of her niece, and conspiracy to commit murder in the shooting death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow in 2021.
“Being her own attorney likely gives her a better chance of an ineffective-counsell argument on appeal, assuming she loses,” Stoltmann told Fox News Digital. “She might be thinking it also gives her the best chance to win, since the jurors can hear from her without her actually having to testify and so be subject to cross-examination by the prosecutors.”
After being extradited to Arizona in November 2023 Vallow entered not guilty to the allegations.
Originally thought to be self-defense in 2019, Lori Vallow’s brother Alex Cox allegedly shot Charles Vallow. Cox passed away from an apparently blood clot months later. Prosecutors also claim the siblings planned to assassinate Boudreaux in what finally turned out to be a string of cult-fueled murders carried out by Vallow.
Idaho jury decided last year Vallow and Daybell were guilty of killing Daybell’s previous wife, Tammy Daybell, and Vallow’s two younger children. Following a months-long search, Daybell’s Idaho farm yielded the bones of seven-year-old Joshua “J.J. Vallow and sixteen-year-old Tylee Ryan. Daybell jetted off to get married in Hawaii.
For the three murders, Vallow was sentenced to life in jail without the possibility of parole; he has subsequently appealed his conviction.
Judge Steven Boyce of Fremont County District informed Vallow at sentence, “You had so many other options.” You followed the most terrible and destructive route available. I doubt that you regret the effort and suffering you inflicted today.”
Boyce later admitted a February 2023 psychiatric evaluation showing Vallow’s several “mental health issues,” including “delusional disorder” combined with “hyper-religiosity,” and a “continuous and unspecified personality disorder” along with narcissistic traits.
Following a prior diagnosis resulting from her original murder prosecution, an Arizona judge granted Vallow’s request for a mental competency evaluation. Last year, she was judged finally mentally competent for a trial.
Vallow will be tried separately for the killing of Boudreaux; her trial for the alleged murder of Charles Vallow is set to start on March 31.
