BOISE, Idaho (ABC4) — The jury in the Chad Daybell triple-murder trial returned to court this morning to hear victim impact statements in the sentencing phase after finding him guilty on all eight counts Thursday afternoon.

Under the law, the same jury that convicted Daybell must now decide whether or not to grant the prosecution’s request to sentence him to death. Daybell, like his wife Lori Vallow Daybell before him, was found guilty in the murders Lori’s children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16. He was also found guilty of the murder of his former wife, Tamara “Tammy” Daybell, and of insurance fraud and grand theft related to all three deaths.

Opening Statements

While Chad Daybell did have the opportunity to speak in his own defense during the sentencing, he declined to do so. The prosecution, which also had the opportunity to introduce further evidence to help make their argument for the death penalty, said they had no intentions of doing so.

Prosecutor Rob Wood walked the jury through their obligations in this phase of the trial, noting that “murder in and of itself is not sufficient for the death penalty.” As the law requires, the state must show “aggravating factors” to the murders. Wood said Daybell’s actions met all of those factors — that the murders were committed for remuneration (the insurance fraud) and that the murders were “heinous, atrocious, cruel and/or exceptionally depraved.” He said Daybell exhibited “utter disregard for human life.”

Defense attorney John Prior, meanwhile, painted Daybell as a shy, reserved man from a small town who had only been in a single relationship with Tammy Daybell. He called Lori Vallow’s appearance in Daybell’s life a “change in trajectory.” He noted that while Chad Daybell was “not a worldly man,” Lori Vallow was worldly, having already had four marriages before meeting Daybell.

“All that glitters is not gold,” said Prior. “Lori Vallow glittered. She was not gold.”

Tearful Impact Statements

The prosecution brought a number of Tammy Daybell’s family members to the stand, including her father, Ron Douglas; her brothers, Michael, Matthew and Ben Douglas; sister Samantha Gwilliam, and her sister-in-law Kelsee Douglas. Also speaking were JJ Vallow’s biological grandmother, Kay Woodcock; Tylee’s older brother, Colby Ryan; and Tylee’s aunt, Annie Cushing.

All of the Douglas family members spoke of how Tammy’s death drove a wedge between them and the five children of Chad and Tammy Daybell, all of whom supported their father. The Douglases said that while they are open to reconciling with the Daybell children in the future, it has made dealing with Tammy’s death that much harder. They also noted that Tammy’s mother, who had a 30-year fight with leukemia, started going downhill after Tammy’s death. Tammy’s mother died in June 2023 without ever mending those relationships with the Daybell children. Gwilliam said the Daybell children did not participate in her funeral.

Michael Douglas noted that Tammy’s death sent him into a spiral of depression that changed him forever. He said his blood pressure spiked so high, his doctor thought he was having a stroke. He said he was originally trying to keep family members from jumping to conclusions.

“I should probably should have done more jumping,” he said.

Michael Douglas said the exhumation of Tammy’s body for the autopsy was viewed by their mother as a “desecration of Tammy’s gravesite.”

Matthew Douglas outlined some of the family’s difficulties in the years since Tammy’s death, noting that not only did they have to deal with the shock of her death, but also the media attention it has drawn. While he noted that some journalists have reported on the situation with compassion, other “heartless media jackals looking for a sensational story” have caused the family’s pain to increase. He also noted that many facts of the case were revealed to the family via media reports before police could even notify them.

“You’re all on the outside looking in,” he said.

JJ Vallow’s biological grandmother, Kay Woodcock, also took the stand. JJ was born prematurely with “illicit substances” in his system. Also born autistic, Kay said JJ was a mathematical savant who could have gone on to be “the next Albert Einstein.”

She detailed the early days of JJ’s life and how she and her husband, Larry Woodcock, formed an immediate and deep bond with the young boy. Ultimately, she said her hometown in Louisiana did not have the resources for a boy like JJ, and he was eventually adopted by Lori and her then-husband, Charles Vallow, who moved him to Arizona and later Hawaii.

Annie Cushing, the sister of Lori Vallow’s third husband, Joseph Vallow, also detailed her relationship with her niece, Tylee Ryan, whom she called a “prodigy” who didn’t immediately let people into her life. Cushing said she had planned to fly Tylee out to New York City for her 18th birthday. That day never came. She refuted testimony from the trial that Tylee “didn’t like people,” detailing instead times she got Tylee to open up.

“She was a walled garden, but in that interaction, she let me in,” said Cushing.

Meanwhile, Colby Ryan was almost unable to deliver his statement through tears.

“It is very hard for me to put into words what it means to have lost my entire family,” he said, later adding he was now “motherless, fatherless, sisterless, brotherless.”