Days before the start of her second Arizona trial, “cult mom” Lori Vallow Daybell has filed a motion to remove the judge over what she says is “personal bias or prejudice against her.”
Judge Justin Beresky presided over the trial last month that saw her convicted of conspiring with her brother, Alex Cox, in the murder of her fourth husband months before she married Chad Daybell and two of her children disappeared. Those children, 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, were later found dead on Chad Daybell’s property, and both of them were convicted in Idaho of murder in their deaths.
They were also convicted in the death of Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell, who died weeks before the marriage. Vallow Daybell was given three life sentences, while her husband was sentenced to death. Daybell was not charged in connection with the shooting death of Charles Vallow or the attempted murder of Vallow Daybell’s niece’s ex-husband, Brandon Bourdeaux. That trial begins next month.
Vallow Daybell complains in her motion — she is representing herself in the Arizona trials — that Beresky has refused to recuse himself, “knowingly and willingly violating the code of Judicial Conduct,” according to KSAZ. She complains that a rule related to speedy trials was also violated and that Beresky has displayed religious discrimination against her.
Daybell also mentions religion, bringing up his comment “I guess to the extreme that you are comparing yourself to these biblical figures I will allow it.” She says media networks aired this “malicious act by Judge Beresky”, discriminating against her religious beliefs. pic.twitter.com/sn22k85CuG
— Justin Lum | 林俊豪 (@jlumfox10) May 28, 2025
Vallow Daybell previously asked Beresky to step down during a hearing for the upcoming trial on May 14.
“You denied every single one of my motion for the year and a half that I’ve been here,” Vallow Daybell said during the hearing. “Every single one of my motions [have] been denied.”
Beresky pointed out that he had granted several of her motions, specifically noting one just a few minutes before her statement.
“File motions that have a legal basis, and I might grant them,” Beresky said.
Earlier this month, a judge denied Vallow Daybell’s request for a new trial based on her contention that one of the jurors in the murder conspiracy trial knew about her convictions in Idaho.
While Vallow Daybell was found guilty in the conspiracy to murder trial, she won’t be sentenced until the attempted murder trial concludes.
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[Featured image: Lori Vallow Daybell/Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office]
