Lori Vallow Daybell’s own words seal her fate of life without parole sentence | Opinion
Lori Vallow Daybell’s own words sealed her fate at sentencing Monday.
Vallow Daybell, who killed two of her children — JJ Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16 — and conspired to kill Tammy Daybell, took the opportunity to defend herself before she was sentenced.
Her words showed that she still has a shocking lack of remorse and continues to be under the influence of delusional religious views.
“Jesus Christ knows the truth of what happened here,” Vallow Daybell said in court. “Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen. Suicides happen. Fatal side effects from medications happen.”
She went on to tell the court that JJ and Tylee and Tammy Daybell, as well as angels and Jesus Christ, himself, visited her from heaven. She said JJ, Tylee and Tammy Daybell are all “happy and busy” in heaven. She insulted the family of Tammy Daybell by calling her “my wonderful friend.”
It’s the kind of delusion that landed her in prison, and it’s the kind of delusion that will keep in prison for the rest of her life — three times over.
Judge Steven Boyce rightly sentenced Vallow Daybell to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, citing, in part, Vallow Daybell’s continuing delusions and her utter inability to claim responsibility or show remorse for her actions.
“You killed those children, according to the state’s theory and I believe it, to remove them as obstacles and to profit financially,” Boyce said before sentencing Vallow Daybell. “You justified all of this by going down a bizarre religious rabbit hole and clearly you are still down there.”
The sentencing of Vallow Daybell finally brings a close to a bizarre, brutal, unimaginable case of murder.
The sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole also brings justice.
Hopefully, it also brings some semblance of peace to the families of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan and Tammy Daybell.
It’s true, as Vallow Daybell’s lawyer pointed out during Monday’s sentencing hearing, that hate will never bring closure or peace.
But justice can bring at least a semblance of closure and peace.
With the death penalty off the table, sentencing Vallow Daybell to the maximum was the best the court could do.
Anything less would have been short on both closure or peace.
“It is the most shocking thing, really, I can imagine, is that a mother killed her own children and you simply have no remorse for it even sitting here today,” Boyce said. “There’s no remorse for what you did. After all of this evidence through trial, you haven’t shown any remorse. You haven’t said you’re sorry. You haven’t done anything to seek leniency from this court.”
And since she sought no leniency from the court, it is only fitting that the court showed her no leniency.
This story was originally published July 31, 2023 at 2:41 PM.