Lori Vallow Daybell Reveals Why She Will Represent Herself in Trial Tied to Her Ex-Husband's Death

• Lori Vallow Daybell will be representing herself in her upcoming trial after being charged with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the 2019 death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow
• She told True Crime Arizona that she’s been “working on my case for five years” and knows it “better than an attorney can learn it in two years”
• Vallow Daybell was previously sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the 2019 murder of her two children

Lori Vallow Daybell, who was previously sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering her two children, is planning to represent herself in her latest murder trial — and she’s explaining why.

Nearly two years after her initial sentencing in Idaho, Lori is now preparing for her trial in Arizona after being charged with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the 2019 death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow.

Per the Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office, Charles was fatally shot at Lori’s Chandler, Ariz., home in 2019. Prosecutors previously said that Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, called 911 on July 11, 2019, to report that he fatally shot Charles, who died at the scene. At the time, Cox claimed self-defense, before he died months later.

Now, Lori is preparing to represent herself, as opening statements are scheduled to kick off on Monday, April 7, per AZ Family.

“There’s lots of reasons,” Lori told True Crime Arizona correspondent Briana Whitney when asked about her decision to represent herself.

“I am not an attorney. I’m not an attorney. I do not have training to be an attorney,” she continued. “There’s something that I figured out when I got to this jail, you know, this experience has been five years running.”

Added Lori: “I came here with the intention of having a speedy trial. Right? These charges came first. Right? They’re like five years old. I first talked to the attorneys, and I was like, they’ve had five years — the prosecutors — to put their case together. And I really want to go to trial, we need to go.”

Elsewhere during the discussion, True Crime Arizona asked Lori about the “notion from the public” that she’s representing herself because she has “nothing to lose” and that its a “challenge, a show, a game” for her.

“I never hear any of this stuff because I’m in a room 23 hours a day, and we don’t have any access to any kind of news,” she said. “Or any kind of anything, really. So I didn’t know that people were saying that, but I wouldn’t agree with that, obviously.”

Lori added that she’s been “working on my case for five years” — claiming that she knows the case “better than an attorney can learn it in two years.”

“But here’s the thing, when you waive your speedy trial, then they can keep you here as long as you want,” Lori said. “There are intelligent, strong, beautiful women in here that have been here for eight years because of family tragedies. It’s the same, like, my case, a family tragedy, not crime. A family tragedy, and they’re waiting, and they’re facing the death penalty for a family tragedy.”

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Lori’s latest trial comes nearly two years after she was convicted of killing her children, Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, in 2019. Lori was also convicted of conspiring to murder her fifth husband Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell.

After Lori was sentenced to life in prison, Chad — a self-proclaimed doomsday prophet — was later convicted of similar charges and sentenced to death.

As for the case that’s at the center of her forthcoming Arizona trial, a June 2021 indictment alleged that Lori “agreed” with her brother that “at least one of them or another would engage in conduct constituting the offense of First Degree Murder.” The Arizona Republic reported that, on the day of Charles’ 2019 death, he was arguing with Lori and Cox before the fight turned physical. Charles was then reportedly shot twice in the chest after he had hit Cox with a baseball bat.

Six months earlier, he had told police that Lori “lost her reality” and threatened to kill him, according to body cam footage shared by ABC News.

Cox later died on Dec. 12, 2019 from what the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office determined were natural causes. He was not charged in Charles’ death.

For her latest trial, jury selection began on Monday, March 31. Lori has pleaded not guilty, per CBS News.