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PHOENIX — Lori Vallow Daybell walked into a Maricopa County Courtroom smiling Wednesday morning and asked for permission to not appear at her next hearing.
Daybell is charged in Arizona with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in relation to the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, and former nephew-in-law, Brandon Boudreaux. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Wednesday's hearing, a complex case scheduling conference, was over in less than five minutes.
"A large amount of discovery is about to be disclosed — approximately 88,000 pages of discovery. I imagine that's going to take some time for the defense to get through," Judge Justin Beresky said.
Keith Terry, one of Daybell's attorneys, responded it will take time and the defense team is waiting on 20 terabytes of data to be turned over.
Beresky set another scheduling conference for April 24 and granted Daybell's request to waive her presence at the hearing.
Her trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 1, but Beresky mentioned it may not be a realistic start date given the amount of evidence.
In Idaho, Chad Daybell will appear before Judge Steven Boyce on Thursday morning in Fremont County for a pretrial conference. Jury selection in his trial is scheduled to begin April 1 in Ada County. He is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder in relation to the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan — two of Lori Daybell's kids — and Chad's first wife, Tammy Daybell. He has pleaded not guilty.
