Chad Daybell sentenced to death in Idaho: which American states still apply the death penalty?

Chad Daybell, half of the nightmare team that made the Vallow-Daybell, was sentenced to death by an Idaho court. Along with his wife and accomplice, Lori Daybell, they murdered their children and spouses in a story too horrific even to imagine. The two met in 2015, and four years later, Lori's second husband, Charles Vallow, was their first victim. In February 2019, things came to a head in the Vallow household when Lori told Charles that she no longer loved him or the son they had together, JJ. She would then abandon her family for almost two months, and in the meantime, Charles filed a case. for divorce, took out an order of protection and amended his life insurance policy to name his sister as the beneficiary, instead of Lori.

The brutal murders

A few months later, Charles learned of his soon-to-be ex-wife's affair with Chad Daybell, who was then married to a woman named Tammy. When Charles threatened to tell Tammy about the affair, she called her brother to ask him to be present when he came to pick up JJ Lori's brother, Alex Cox, who shot and killed Charles, claiming that he had done it in self-defense. and because of her anger over the alleged abuse her sister suffered at the hands of her husband. Lori's daughter Tylee was never seen alive again after September 8, 2019, while her younger half-brother JJ was last captured on a doorbell camera playing in the front yard on September 23, 2019. . Lori took steps to cover up her children's disappearance and never informed authorities. Authorities discovered the bodies of the two children on June 9, 2020.

Chad's wife Tammy was found dead on October 19, 2019. At the time, the theory was that she died of natural causes, but the investigation raised suspicion, especially since the relationship between Chad and Lori was discovered. Chad denied authorities the right to conduct an autopsy and it was only later, when a blood test was performed, that scientists discovered she had been poisoned.

Lori and Chad were arrested in May 2020 and their trials took place in 2023 and 2024. On May 30, Chad was sentenced to death for his role in the murders.

In what other states is the death penalty legal?

Chad committed these crimes in one of the twenty-seven states where the death penalty is still legal.

The jury was able to sentence Daybell to death due to the “heinous nature of the crimes” and the fact that they were premeditated.

The United States is unique among its peers in being able to impose the death penalty in a criminal court. Among the 37 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, only the United States and Japan can sentence a person to death in criminal proceedings..

Other countries have reviewed the research and found that the death penalty has little effect on reducing the murder rate.

The Death Penalty Information Center also found, through a poll, that “Americans are willing to forgo the death penalty if certain strict sanctions are applied.” Furthermore, in the majority of American states, the penalties that the majority of respondents believe are sufficient. measures to replace the death penalty are already being considered.