Lori Vallow Daybell stoked tensions with judge in her Arizona murder conspiracy trials

PHOENIX AP Moments before the Idaho mother with doomsday beliefs was given two more life sentences in prison she complained about jail conditions and the legal system saying the rules of evidence do not allow two sides of the story Judge Justin Beresky abruptly interrupted saying Really they do It was a moment that further highlighted the tension between Lori Vallow Daybell who represented herself in two murder conspiracy cases in Arizona and Beresky who pulled no punches when the time came for him to address the court Beresky disclosed Vallow Daybell was not truthful when she claimed she was prevented from telling her side of the story and was unable to get a fair trial The media attention she craved he reported will fade into obscurity now that her trials are over The amount of contemplation calculation planning and manipulation that went into these crimes is unparalleled in my career reported Beresky who has been a Maricopa County Superior Court judge since and has presided over other high-profile cases Friday s sentencing ended the legal saga of Vallow Daybell who will likely spend no time in an Arizona prison because she already was serving three life sentences in Idaho for killing her two youngest children and conspiring to kill a romantic rival In Arizona she was convicted of conspiring to kill her estranged husband Charles Vallow and her niece s ex-husband Brandon Boudreaux Charles Vallow was fatally shot while Boudreaux survived Vallow Daybell maintained that she did nothing wrong and commented the string of deaths were exclusively tragedies She turned to her own religious beliefs in saying she believes she is among servants who Jesus is sending into prison to become warriors and who ultimately will be published to serve him Beresky implied that she got the meaning wrong when she referenced a verse about prisoners going free That is a verse about people that accept Jesus can be in prison and they will go free when they die and go to heaven but it will take an act of God for you to go free the judge revealed In short you should never be disclosed from prison Vallow Daybell s trials in Phoenix were infused with her religious beliefs including that people in her life were possessed by evil spirits She routinely sparred with Beresky occasionally leaning over to consult with her advisory counsel Charles Vallow s sister Kay Woodcock praised the judge s demeanor outside the courtroom I don t think we could have had a better judge she mentioned He is a better man than a lot of people putting up with her like he did Mel McDonald a retired Maricopa County judge who was not involved in the trials but watched them declared Beresky did an exceptional job of maintaining courtroom decorum and demonstrated extraordinary patience despite obstructive tactics from Vallow Daybell He gives her latitude McDonald announced But he doesn t let her run wild Last month during the trial over the conspiracy to kill Boudreaux Vallow Daybell falsely accused Beresky of yelling at her after he explained that her efforts to introduce favorable evidence about her character could open the door to jurors hearing about her convictions in Idaho and for Vallow s death You don t need to talk to me that way Vallow Daybell declared Take her out Beresky narrated a defense officer who led her from the courtroom In defending herself Vallow Daybell struggled with legal matters that the majority lawyers consider routine such as lining up bystanders to testify She insisted on exercising her speedy trial rights and rejected the judge s offer for later dates yet complained about not having enough time to prepare She also tried to get Beresky removed from the affair arguing that he was biased against her In another moment emblematic of the tensions between judge and defendant Beresky expressed skepticism during jury selection for her second Arizona trial when she claimed she was too sick to move forward The proceedings were postponed for the day But the trial continued with Beresky later saying there was no objective evidence to assistance her alleges Associated Press writers Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix contributed Source