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PHOENIX -- A Maricopa County prosecutor says Lori Vallow Daybell's request for a new trial should be denied because "there was no juror misconduct, no prosecutorial misconduct, no improper exclusion of hearsay testimony and no lack of impartiality by the court."

Maricopa County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Treena Kay filed a 16-page response Tuesday to Daybell's motion for a new trial.

A jury found Daybell guilty of conspiracy to commit the murder of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, on April 22. She represented herself and it took the jury less than three hours to reach a guilty verdict.

In her filing last week, Daybell asked Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Justin Beresky to grant her another trial for a number of reasons, including a statement made by a juror on live television after the verdict was announced.

"You know, I feel sorry for her, driving home yesterday, I was like, God, she's spending the next three lives in prison, in a cell," the juror said.

The Idaho crimes were not discussed in the Arizona trial. Jurors were not supposed to know Daybell was convicted in 2023 of murdering her two children, Joshua JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, along with conspiracy to commit the murder of Tammy Daybell, her husband's first wife.

Kay responded to Daybell's argument by pointing out the juror was "mobbed" by the media after walking out of the courthouse and made multiple statements while answering questions.

"In the initial media contact, one of the media asked Juror Fifteen and another juror, 'Were any of you folks aware that this woman had already been convicted of three homicides?' Juror Fifteen responds, 'No, no. I did not,'" Kay wrote.

Kay also pointed out an interview the juror did with Hidden True Crime in which he "repeatedly stated that after the verdict was read and they were released from the admonition, he started 'Googling' Lori Vallow while still in the Jury Room."

Daybell also raised concerns that statements made by Tylee and her brother, Alex Cox, after Charles Vallow was shot were not allowed into the trial. The statements were considered hearsay because Tylee and Cox are dead and could not be called as witnesses.

"There is no exception that permits their admission," Kay wrote. "The defendant never established a foundation that any statements made by Alex Cox or Tylee Ryan hours after the shooting were admissible under any of the Arizona Rules of Evidence. The testimony of Alex Cox and Tylee Ryan were appropriately precluded as hearsay."

In response to allegations that Kay committed a discovery violation by not turning over a hard drive with Vallow's cell phone information to the defense until the middle of the trial, the prosecutor said the information was disclosed to Daybell's team in January 2024 - over a year before the trial started.

Kay noted that Beresky told Daybell before the trial started that she could request a delay if she needed more time to have her expert review the data.

"The defendant advised she wanted to proceed with trial instead of seeking a continuance to allow her expert time to review the victim's cell phone," Kay wrote.

In her motion, Daybell accused Kay of committing prosecutorial misconduct by giving false statements during her closing argument. Kay responded that Daybell "intentionally mischaracterized" one sentence from the entire argument.

"The State made argument to the jury regarding the defendant's demeanor (the day of the shooting)...Witnesses described the defendant...as chatty, nonchalant and unaffected by her brother allegedly being struck with a baseball bat, her husband lying dead in her house and her children no longer having a father," Kay wrote. "The defendant's demeanor with law enforcement the day of the murder was in complete opposition to the defendant's demeanor during opening statements where the defendant attempted to testify as to facts that were never brought in by the defendant during the trial and crying in front of the jury."

Another reason Daybell said she deserves a new trial is that Beresky struck two of her proposed witnesses, EastIdahoNews.com reporter Nate Eaton and Brandon Boudreaux, from her list before the trial started. Boudreaux is Daybell's former nephew-in-law.

Read the rest of the story on EastIdahoNews.com.

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