Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Judge Beresky warned Lori Daybell against discussing her character in court and interrupting, saying he may decide to let evidence of her past convictions come in.
- After she accused him of yelling at her, he ordered deputies to take her out of the courtroom, later saying he may revoke her ability to represent herself.
- Daybell is on trial for conspiracy to murder Brandon Boudreaux.
PHOENIX — Judge Justin Beresky asked officers to escort Lori Vallow Daybell from the courtroom Friday while she was still trying to speak with him ahead of a break during the second day of her jury trial.
"Take her out. Take her out," he said.
After Beresky issued a repeated warning to Daybell not to make comments about whether she has good character, she told the judge overseeing her trial that he did not need to yell at her.
Daybell also contested his order to take her out, saying, "I'm very courteous to you."
The judge responded, "No, you have been nothing near courteous to me during the course of these proceedings."
"Ms. Daybell, if you continue to ask lines of questions where I've sustained an objection, into areas where I've sustained an objection, if you continue to speak over me or the prosecutor … I may be forced to revoke your pro se status," Beresky said before the officers took her. Losing pro se status would mean Daybell could no longer represent herself.
Daybell is on trial for conspiracy to murder Brandon Boudreaux, her niece's ex-husband. Although officers believe her brother, Alex Cox, was the one who fired the gun at Bourdreaux, prosecutor Trina Kay said Thursday in her opening statement that Daybell was involved in planning the shooting and was Cox's alibi.
Daybell's accusation that the judge was "yelling" came after he warned her that information she was bringing up could lead to him allowing prosecutors to question witnesses about her previous convictions, thereby allowing jurors to see rebutting character evidence.
If you're going to introduce how you have great character and good character, we're going to have a short hearing on what evidence (prosecutors) can bring in to rebut that character — which could include being convicted of four murders.
–Judge Justin Beresky
"If you're going to introduce how you have great character and good character, we're going to have a short hearing on what evidence (prosecutors) can bring in to rebut that character — which could include being convicted of four murders," Beresky said.
This topic was also brought up by prosecutors at the start of the day.
Kay argued that in saying Daybell was a peaceful and loving person in her opening statement, Daybell could allow for the prosecution to bring in character evidence to show she was not. The prosecutor also said comments about Boudreaux hiring a private investigator could lead her team to ask about the killing of Daybell's fourth husband, Charles Vallow — a reason Boudreaux took that step.
Kay said prosecutors have tried hard to refer to Vallow's death as an "incident in Chandler, Arizona," and not provide details about it.
Beresky agreed, saying he had thought the same thing on the first day of trial. However, he said that because that information was presented in Daybell's opening statement rather than as evidence or testimony, he chose to warn her that morning not to bring those things up in the testimony phase.
Still, as Daybell was cross-examining Boudreaux on Friday, she asked about her own character and about their relationship. Boudreaux contested most of the claims Daybell made in her questioning, saying they had argued in the past and had not always had a good relationship.
He contested the idea that he would have referred to Daybell as a friend, saying he would have called her an aunt. He even suggested that the person transcribing the interview may have gotten that information wrong in the police documents.
In the first two days of the trial, the 15 jurors, including three alternates, have heard testimony from Boudreaux, a police officer and multiple neighbors, including one who saw the Jeep on the street and thought it looked suspicious. Someone in a Jeep fired shots at Boundreauz in 2019.
Daybell was found guilty in April of conspiring to murder her then-husband, Charles Vallow, in 2019. In an Idaho trial in 2023, she was found guilty of the murders of her two children, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old JJ "Joshua" Vallow, along with conspiring to murder them and her current husband's then-wife, Tammy Daybell. She has already received five sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Daybell's husband, Chad Daybell, was found guilty of murdering her children and Tammy Daybell and was sentenced to death in 2024.
Lori Daybell's current trial is expected to last through next week, and the judge has informed jurors that it may extend into the following week.
