BOISE, Idaho — On Monday, a district judge dismissed Chad Daybell's and the state's motion to close Wednesday's hearing on Lori Vallow's motion to disqualify the prosecuting attorney from the public.
District Judge W. Boyce said neither the state or Daybell provided enough reasoning to close Wednesday's hearing from the public. The state and Daybell made the motions to close the hearing on Lori Vallow's motion to dismiss Rob Wood, the state's prosecuting attorney, from the case on Dec. 18.
Lori Vallow objected to the motion to close the hearing.
On Dec. 16, Vallow filed a motion to disqualify Wood from the case after she and her defense accused Wood of trying to coerce, coach and/or intimidate her biological sister, Summer Shiflett, during a phone call back in October.
"This misconduct further supports Defendant's motion to extend time to dismiss to allow the Defense to amend its motion and present the newly acquired additional evidence, that was not included in any of the State's discovery responses, including but limited to the most recent discovery responses provided the Defense," Mark Means, Vallow's defense attorney, wrote.
The motion, if granted by a judge, would disqualify Wood as the prosecutor, make him a material witness, allow subpoenas for audio copies of the phone calls, waive all fees and costs for filing the motion, and submit the audio recording as evidence.
The motion was scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, Jan. 6.
"At no time during or after our meeting did [attorney Garrett] Smith raise an objection or concern that I had coerced, unduly influenced, coached, intimidated, or instructed a witness how to respond to any questions," Wood said in an affidavit in response to Vallow's motion. "Recordings provided by the Defense were recorded without my knowledge or consent and do not include the entirety of the conversations among me, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Shiflett, and Ms. Pastenas, and as such appear at some level to be incomplete and/or possibly edited."
