Lori Daybell denied bond reduction; defense says recorded conversations were a violation
A judge on Friday refused to lower the $1 million bond for Lori Vallow Daybell, the mother of two missing Rexburg children, after a long hearing.
Mark Means, Daybell’s attorney, said bail should be reduced to between $100,000 to $250,000 because during the coronavirus pandemic, he has been unable to communicate suitably with his client. Means also alleged that attorney-client privilege has been violated because conversations he had with Daybell were recorded at the Madison County Jail.
The prosecution said that nothing at the jail is recorded without proper warning, so if any conversation was recorded, then the parties knew that was the case.
“If conversations between an attorney and client, without a warning that they are being recorded, are being recorded, then that would certainly be something that I would want to know about,” Magistrate Judge Michelle Mallard said at the nearly 3-hour hearing. “But I don’t really have any evidence that is what is going on here.”
Daybell has been in jail since being extradited from Hawaii in late February. She is charged with two counts of felony child abandonment, misdemeanor resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime and contempt of court. The charges relate to the disappearance of her children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, who have not been seen since September.
A preliminary hearing in her case is set for July 9-10.
