Seventh District Court Judge Steven Boyce has continued murder suspect Chad Daybell’s murder trial.

Daybell’s trial will be postponed to a later unspecified date. Boyce made the decision on Friday in a court filing.

John Prior, who serves as Daybell’s attorney, has stated that he has an enormous amount of new “discovery” or information that he needs to review. As a result, Prior maintains he might not be sufficiently prepared for a January trial.

Chad Daybell previously waived his right to a speedy trial. As a result, Boyce said the court must ensure Prior has enough time to prepare a defense, Boyce said.

“The court will contact counsel to reschedule trial,” Boyce wrote. “The court expects counsel for the parties to have full and complete understanding of what preparations remain in rescheduling the trial, so as to avoid any further unnecessary delay in the administration of this case.”

Prosecutors have not opposed Prior’s request to continue Chad Daybell’s trial.

“On October 6, 2022, the state filed a response to the motion essentially as a non-objection to a continuance and requested the court to stay the case pending the determination of a new trial for the co-defendant case,” Boyce said.

Lori Vallow-Daybell is the co-defendant in this case. Vallow-Daybell and Chad Daybell are charged in the murders of her two children Tylee Ryan, 16, and J.J. Vallow, 7. Chad Daybell is also facing murder charges in the death of his first wife Tammy Daybell. He married Vallow-Daybell in Hawaii two weeks after Tammy Daybell died.

The court recently determined Vallow-Daybell is – again — unfit to stand trial and suspended her January trial where she would have faced a jury trial with Chad Daybell.

In 2021, and shortly after being charged with her children’s murders, Vallow-Daybell was deemed incompetent to stand trial. She was sent to an Idaho mental health facility to receive “restorative treatment.” She spent much of 2021 and part of 2022 receiving that care.

Both Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow-Daybell have pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.

In his court filing, Boyce pointed out that Vallow-Daybell and Chad Daybell are facing the death penalty. As a result, the court has made efforts to ensure a fair proceeding for all parties involved, Boyce said.

“The court also took into its consideration of setting a trial date in January 2023, the representation of counsel that the defense would be ready for trial by October, 2022 (now), and objected to the trial being set into 2023,” he wrote. “The bases argued in the motion to continue reveals the unfortunate current posture of this case where only now, too late, counsel fully realizes the complexity of preparing defense for this case.”

Boyce noted that once Chad Daybell was charged, all parties involved knew he faced the death penalty. They also knew that effective counsel was required, experts would be needed and that additional defense attorneys might be hired. All of those factors combined would require more preparation time, Boyce said.

“While the Court is left questioning how and why such issues, all present at the outset of this case, are only now being asserted as basis for continuance, the arguments as whole leave this court with an abiding sense that the defense has indeed demonstrated that it is not, and cannot, be ready for trial in January, 2023,” Boyce wrote.

Boyce pointed out that he had spent a considerable amount of time arranging for the Daybells’ trial to be held in Boise. He and attorneys have visited the Ada County Courthouse to plan for the now canceled trial.

The trial was moved to Ada County after Boyce noted the intense media attention concerning the Daybells in the Upper Valley. In moving the trial, Boyce’s expectation was that an impartial jury could be found to serve. Boyce was so concerned about the pretrial publicity that he also banned cameras during any hearings involving the Daybells suggesting that cameras sensationalized an already volatile situation.

The case has spawned international attention, resulted in one Lifetime movies, several documentaries and numerous books.

As more information is made available, the Standard Journal will update this story.