ST ANTHONY, Idaho — A judge in Fremont County has set the murder trial of an Idaho mother accused of killing her two children for Oct. 11, one day after she made her first in-court appearance in more than a year.
Lori Vallow's trial is expected to last ten weeks.
Vallow elected to stand silent at her Tuesday arraignment, prompting Judge Steven Boyce to enter not guilty pleas on her behalf. The 48-year-old was indicted on two counts of criminal conspiracy, two counts of first-degree murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and one count of grand theft after the remains of her children, 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, were unearthed on the property of her new husband Chad Daybell.
Daybell is also charged in the children's deaths, as well as the murder of his late wife Tammy Daybell, who was found dead in their shared home the month before he and Vallow wed.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Daybell, but have not yet indicated whether they will ask for the same for Vallow if she is convicted.
Vallow, who investigators say professed that the end of the world was near and believed her children had been turned into "zombies," was found mentally incompetent to stand trial in May 2021 and held in a psychiatric facility until earlier this month, when evaluators declared her fit to proceed.
At her Tuesday hearing, Vallow declined to waive her right to a speedy trial, fixing a six-month deadline from the day of arraignment for her trial to begin.
Daybell, who a judge has ordered to be tried jointly with Vallow, is set for trial in January.
It's unclear whether the judge will order the couple to be tried separately, or move Daybell's trial date sooner to align with that of Vallow.
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