Chad Daybell gets his day in court.

[yellowstone123]

Thank you, Res Ipsa. I appreciate the follow up information and clarification.

[yellowstone123]

I did some fact checking which I should have done prior. Sorry. I was wrong on some key points. The case wasn't a death penalty case. Life was the only sentence the judge could give the defendant. The death penalty and life without parole were not an option for him in sentencing. A short time later the death penalty was reinstated for those who killed a police officer.

Then it went tough. The death penalty was reinstated; three strikes was passed by the legislature and signed into law. People were tired of crime. I remember taking classes to get a paralegal certificate. The instructor who was employed by the Department of Justice for the State and was clearly stressed. He told us he was working on a case which was a conspiracy to commit murder case. If convicted the judge had no discretion and it was 25 years with no parole. It wasn't murder but just creating a conspiracy. Today I say don't even joke about something like that when sending a text.

[Res Ipsa]

I did some fact checking which I should have done prior. Sorry. I was wrong on some key points. The case wasn't a death penalty case. Life was the only sentence the judge could give the defendant. The death penalty and life without parole were not an option for him in sentencing. A short time later the death penalty was reinstated for those who killed a police officer.

Then it went tough. The death penalty was reinstated; three strikes was passed by the legislature and signed into law. People were tired of crime. I remember taking classes to get a paralegal certificate. The instructor who was employed by the Department of Justice for the State and was clearly stressed. He told us he was working on a case which was a conspiracy to commit murder case. If convicted the judge had no discretion and it was 25 years with no parole. It wasn't murder but just creating a conspiracy. Today I say don't even joke about something like that when sending a text.

Thanks for clarifying. Determinate sentencing is rough.

[Res Ipsa]

A week into the trial, the outlines of Chad's defense are taking shape: 1) His deceased wife, Tammy, had serious health problems, did not like to go to doctors, and died of natural causes. 2) Lori and her brother Alex conspired to kill Lori's husband Charles and the two children. Chad did not conspire with them. 3) Chad's religious beliefs were either entirely consistent with mainstream Mormonism or with LDS doctrine that the COJCOLDS keeps secret.

The strategy became fairly clear during the cross-examination of Melanie Gibb, one of the prosecution's key witnesses. Gibb was a long-time friend of Lori's. She was part of the cult's inner circle and participated in its spiritual warfare -- attempts to cast out evil demons that were possessing people's bodies. She knew that all of people who died had been declared "dark" or "zombies" before they died, including the two children. The group believed that, if the castings were successful, the evil spirit would leave the body and the body would die -- there was no way to put the original spirit back in the body. These castings were literally intended to kill.

Melanie is LDS. She is the the only insider that came to the police, but too late for any of the victims. She has very good recollection of events and conversations that implicate Lori and Chad in the deaths, but never can recall conversations or events that closely tie her to what the group was doing. She also exchanged over 300 texts with one of the prosecutors, who is also LDS, over the period of a few months. In one of them, she tells the prosecutor that she is going to do an interview on Dateline because she trusts that the interviewer to "protect the church." Attorney Prior brought these texts out in cross to imply that Melanie's motivation in portraying Chad's beliefs as something other than LDS beliefs was to protect the church and cover up her role in the cult. In fact, his questioning implied that Melanie knew what had happened to the children while Chad was kept in the dark.

Interesting insider dope: Prior tried to hire John Dehlin as expert witness on what is and is not LDS doctrine. Dehlin declined.

The way Chad operated was mainly to give information to Lori, who would communicate it to others. That gives the defense the opportunity to cast Lori as the mover and shaker and Chad as the dupe. The defense is also taking advantage of the fact that many of the "fringe" LDS beliefs that Chad and Lori held can be traced to something in LDS scripture or history. For example, in response to testimony that Chad considered the cult members part of the Church of the Firstborn, the defense asked "Isn't the Church of the Firstborn part of LDS scripture -- in the Doctrine and Covenants?"

So far, coverage of these murders has been careful to separate Chad and Lori's extreme beliefs from LDS beliefs. I have no idea whether the defense strategy will affect the reporting or, more importantly, the jury.

[Moksha]

I watched a little bit from a hearing a while ago. Chad's attorney complained to the judge that he has been asking for another attorney for over a year which was normal in death penalty cases. He said Chad was broke.

Someone pointed out that he is broke because he has lost everything and Chad signed the deed to the house and land he owned over to the attorney making the argument, which means the children from his first wife are left with nothing.

If only Chad had the foresight to commit one of the murders on LDS Church property, Kirton McConkie could have stepped in to defend him and make any potential witnesses clam up.

[yellowstone123]

Res Ipsa wrote:

"Melanie is LDS. She is the the only insider that came to the police, but too late for any of the victims. She has very good recollection of events and conversations that implicate Lori and Chad in the deaths, but never can recall conversations or events that closely tie her to what the group was doing. She also exchanged over 300 texts with one of the prosecutors, who is also LDS, over the period of a few months. In one of them, she tells the prosecutor that she is going to do an interview on Dateline because she trusts that the interviewer to "protect the church." Attorney Prior brought these texts out in cross to imply that Melanie's motivation in portraying Chad's beliefs as something other than LDS beliefs was to protect the church and cover up her role in the cult. In fact, his questioning implied that Melanie knew what had happened to the children while Chad was kept in the dark."

Exchanging texts with prosecutors and doing an interview with Dateline may cause some issues. Some prosecutors would not even exchange a text, except "don't text me, call the Detectives with your information."

With these issues I think of O.J. Simpson:

Jill S. was in the area when Nicole Brown's murder occurred and when O.J. Simpson almost crashed into her as he fled the scene. She recognized him from movies she had seen. She was dropped from the witness list as she sold her story to hardcopy for $5,000.00.

Jose C. and Allen W. worked at a cutlery store and were up front about O.J. Simpson buying a knife and sold the story to the The National Enquirer for $12,500.00.

Go into court confident that everything was done right and the likelihood of a win is very good. Or go into court with a I tried my best, lets see what happens. Not a surprise when the former sinks right before your eyes and latter eventually gets the verdict you agree with.