Monday 20th May - afternoon update
Garth continues his testimony.
LIVE UPDATES FROM THE CHAD DAYBELL TRIAL
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Please excuse the typos. These are live updates from the courtroom.
3:15 p.m. Boyce says we are dismissing for the day. We will be back tomorrow. Join me tonight on ‘Courtroom Insider’ at 6:30 p.m. MDT. Lots to discuss!
3:14 p.m. Larry Woodcock just walked in during the sidebar. He and Kay left for the weekend for a graduation. Kay stayed back in Louisiana as her brother Gerry is in the hospital.
3:13 p.m. Joseph says her dad was losing weight and Tammy was jealous. Prior has nothing further. Boyce asks for a brief sidebar.
3:11 p.m. Prior wants to ask Joseph about his parents and a competition between them and Tammy. Joseph says it was a FitBit competition regarding the number of steps they got in each day. His parents were competitive and Tammy was competitive. Jospeh says there was a family joke about Tammy shaking her arm to get more steps on her FitBit.
3:10 p.m. Prior asks Joseph about him going to Sunday School and a lesson in church that Matt Daybell was giving. Rocky Wixom objects based on relevance. Boyce sustains. Murray says after Chad was arrested, he got a lot of dirty looks at church and on Facebook, the deputy prosecutor for Fremont County at the time made a “pretty nasty post” about the case.
3:08 p.m. Joseph says even after Chad was arrested, Det. Hermosillo drove by their property several times a week. Prior asks about the 5K race for September 2019. Joseph put on a race for Operation Underground Railroad. He was the lead organizer. Tammy and their publishing company sponsored the race. Tammy was a volunteer in the race – she didn’t run it, Joseph says.
3:07 p.m. Prior asks where JJ and Tylee were buried. Joseph answers. Prior asks if someone could access the burial sites from the driveway and not be visible. Joseph says that’s possible.
3:05 p.m. Prior asks if there are two driveways on the Daybell property. Joseph says there is a short driveway on the northwest side of the lot in front of the house. Behind the house, there is a much longer driveway. Prior asks if there is access to the field from the long driveway. Joseph says there are two access points from the driveway to the pasture area.
3:03 p.m. Prior asks about a red shed on the Daybell property. Joseph borrowed tools from the neighbor or from Chad’s red shed. Joseph explains the shed and how it was never locked. Joseph says the red shed is about the distance from the wall behind him to where Prior is standing at the podium.
3 p.m. Prior asks how far away Joseph is from Chad’s house. He asks who lives in the homes near Chad’s house. Prior asks about raccoon problems the summer of 2019. Joseph said raccoons were getting into the animal feed bins so a neighbor offered Joseph the use of a trap. Raccoons were caught.
2:58 p.m. The next morning, Joseph was getting ready for work. He saw a deputy vehicle outside and he was worried Garth may not have come home from work. Joseph went back inside and told Emma. Emma called Garth, Chad and Tammy but nobody answered. Joseph and Emma started walking across the street to the house and then a deputy and Garth told them what happened. Garth was very shaken up. Joseph says when he saw Chad, he was wandering aimlessly and kept holding his head. He kept asking, “What are we going to do? What are we doing to do?” Joseph had never seen him in that state before.
2:57 p.m. That evening, when he brought the keys back, Tammy was sitting on the couch and seemed “very exhausted and was coughing pretty hard.” Chad was sitting at the computer desk. Tammy was sitting up on the couch. Prior asks if she was in distress. Joseph says, “It appeared she was sick and wasn’t feeling well.”
2:55 p.m. Prior asks Joseph if he observed anything unusual when he went in to see Tammy. Joseph says earlier in the day, around 2-3 p.m. when he went to go get the truck, Tammy seemed exhausted. “She was carrying around several scholastic school boxes that were pretty heavy,” Joseph says. “She seemed exhausted and exasperated.”
2:53 p.m. Joseph said he needed to get Tammy’s set of keys that had keys to the truck and the Equinox. He used the truck and returned it to the Daybell home. Joseph got there around 5-5:30 p.m. – early evening. Joseph went into the house and handed Tammy the keys. She was sitting on the couch. Chad was also there.
2:52 p.m. Prior asks about Tammy Daybell preparing for a book fair on Friday, Oct. 18. Tammy was driving the Dodge Dakota that day. Joseph said that fall there was a major issue with potatoes freezing. Joseph was helping his friend get the potatoes in. Joseph went and picked up Emma from school. They only had one working vehicle and Joseph wanted to help his friend. Tammy said Joseph could use the truck and Emma said she would take Tammy home.
2:50 p.m. Chad also did some writing at the BYU-Idaho library, Joseph says. The majority of each day, Chad was either writing at the church or the campus, Jospeh explains. Prior asks who was the primary driver of the Dodge Dakota – Tammy or Chad. Joseph says Tammy was. Tammy and Chad then bought a black Equinox and Tammy drove it.
2:47 p.m. Prior asks about the Dodge Dakota. He got it in December 2019 from Chad. Prior asks Joseph if he observed Chad’s regular patterns of travel living kitty-corner to him. Joseph works at the hospital and said his work shift began at noon. Joseph would often cross paths with Chad as Chad was headed to the Salem church to write around 9 a.m.
2:45 p.m. Prior asks Joseph if he spoke with any members of the family after the incident. He says he talked to his wife. The discussion about whether it was a paintball gun or another gun was never discussed. Based off what Tammy said, Joseph understood it was a paintball gun.
2:43 p.m. Joseph says he was in the woodshed when he learned about the Facebook post. Joseph never heard a scream or yell from Tammy. He never heard a swooshing sound or rifle or anything like that. Joseph never saw anything. Prior asks Joseph about his talk with Dep. Colter Cannon. Joseph says after calling 911, he saw Cannon in his vehicle and spoke with him.
2:40 p.m. Joseph said in the Facebook post, Tammy said it was a paintball gun. Prior asks Joseph if he recalls what he said when he called 911. Joseph said he told them his mother-in-law was shot at by someone with a paintball gun and the person ran away. This was based off what Tammy had told him.
2:38 p.m. Prior asks about Oct. 9, 2019 and what Joseph was doing that day. He says in the evening, he was out chopping wood for their fireplace. He got a notification that Tammy posted in a Facebook group that someone had attempted to shoot her with a paintball gun. Joseph went inside and Emma was calling Tammy. Joseph asked Tammy if she called law enforcement. Tammy said no, so Joseph called the police.
2:37 p.m. Joseph says he and Emma have been married for seven years. They have three children, including a newborn. Prior asks how many times he and Joseph spoke or met before last night. Joseph says just once on the phone for about five minutes.
2:36 p.m. Joseph Murray, Emma’s husband, is called to the stand.
2:10 p.m. Mid-afternoon break. Back in 20-30 minutes.
2:09 p.m. Blake asks if it was his understanding if it was the same grand jury with additional questions. He believes so but isn’t sure. Fischer says he provided legal counsel to his client and there were no charges against Garth. Blake is done, Prior has nothing further.
2:07 p.m. Prior asks if Fischer told Garth this was a trap designed to trick him. Fischer doesn’t recall exactly but wouldn’t have been surprised if he did because Garth had already testified in the previous grand jury and this grand jury was about Garth possibly committing perjury. Prior has nothing further. Blake will now cross.
2:06 p.m. Fischer recalls Garth having questions. Fischer told him to answer only the questions being asked and if he wasn’t sure, Garth could consult with Fischer. Fischer wasn’t in the room for the grand jury but was outside and told Garth he could come and talk with him if he had questions. Fischer told Garth not to talk to the media.
2:04 p.m. Fischer works in Driggs and was asked to travel to Fremont County to provide legal services for Garth Daybell during grand jury proceedings. The focus of the grand jury was on Garth. Fischer says Garth had previously testified in front of the grand jury and the jury had follow-up questions so Fischer was called in to assist.
2:02 p.m. Attorneys are back. Garth is released from his subpoena. Next witness is Forrest Fischer, Garth’s attorney.
1:51 p.m. Boyce says there is a matter that needs to be taken up outside the presence of the public and jurors. Boyce asks that we remain in the courtroom while this issue is taken care of. So brief break before the next witness.
1:49 p.m. Blake asks Garth if he changed his testimony between the first and second grand jury. He says he did not. Nothing further from Blake. Attorneys now in a sidebar.
1:47 p.m. Blake has nothing further. Prior will now re-direct. Prior says the second grand jury was convened to find out if Garth should face perjury charges. He was not aware. He says he felt Madison and Fremont Counties were threatening and intimidating him to change his testimony. Prior has nothing further and asks for a sidebar. Blake asks for a brief re-cross.
1:45 p.m. Blake asks Garth if he is aware the second grand jury was conducted based on the request of the first grand jury. Garth was not aware of that. Blake asks about Joseph Smith and a casting. Garth says the person being casted on in the story continued to live on and live his life. Garth had not heard that his mom was possessed. He had not heard about JJ or Tylee being possessed. Blake asks if his mom is still alive. Garth says no.
1:44 p.m. Blake asks if he recalls telling Kara and/or Emma about finding his mom on the couch. “I did not tell them she was on the couch,” Garth says. Garth says the night before, he had seen her on the couch as she said goodbye to them. Blake asks, “If they were to say something different, would that surprise you?” Garth replies, “I’ve heard that before.”
1:42 p.m. Garth says Det. Kaaiakamanu and an FBI agent went to his classroom one day after school and told him the results of his mom’s autopsy. Blake asks Garth about talking to a person about finding his mom dead in bed and his dad gone. Garth doesn’t recall.
1:41 p.m. Garth says he was “extremely” close with his mom. Blake asks about the day in May 2021 when Garth went to the police station. She asks if he recalls that the officers left the door open in the interview room. Garth says the police bought him McDonald’s. His attorney came for questioning.
1:40 p.m. Nobody else was in the house when he got home. Blake asks what woke him up on the morning of Oct. 19. “I thought I heard a thump and then my dad said, ‘Garth, come help.'” Garth went into the bedroom and saw his mom halfway off the bed with her legs still entangled in the blankets. “I immediately thought, ‘She needs my help’ so I lifted here immediately into the bed.”
1:38 p.m. Garth ran outside to try and see who shot at his mom but it was so dark he couldn’t see anyone. Prior asks about the day Tammy died. Garth got home a little after 1 a.m., got ready for bed and watched YouTube videos. He didn’t see either of his parents – he said they were both in bed. “I saw their shapes in the bed as I passed by their room,” Garth says. He did not go in and talk to them – he assumed they were asleep.
1:37 p.m. Garth learned an autopsy was going to be performed on his mom. “Even with an autopsy being performed, you didn’t think law enforcement would want to know (about Tammy being short of breath)?” Garth says he assumes they would find it. Garth never shot paintball guns with his mom, never saw her with a paintball gun, etc. Blake asks if it would surprise him that Det. Cannon never saw a picture of a paintball gun that night. Garth says it would surprise him because the deputy was there.
1:36 p.m. Blake asks about the raccoon that was shot on Sept. 9 and where it was buried. Garth says it was buried behind the silver shed. He was not there when the raccoon was buried. Blake asks about Tammy getting winded and if Garth ever shared those concerns with police or the coroner. “I don’t recall,” he says.
1:35 p.m. Blake asks about the Dodge Dakota and which parent drove it. His recollection is his dad drove it in the later years. Blake asks why Joseph Murray referred to the truck as Tammy’s. Garth had not heard that. Garth says Tammy drove the truck on occasion.
1:34 p.m. Prior has no further questions. Lindsey Blake will now cross-examine Garth.
1:32 p.m. Garth said his parents put light and dark numbers on people “every now and again.” Prior asks about a casting recorded in a book. Garth says Joseph Smith was casting a devil out of Newell Knight. Garth says he isn’t sure the story would be shared as often anymore. Garth says Knight did not die after the demon was expelled from him – he went on to do great things.
1:30 p.m. Garth was aware his father had beliefs about the 144,000. Prior asks Garth for differences between his father and his dad’s faith. “I teach and believe in evolution. I teach that to my students. I teach the earth is 4.5 billion years old as opposed to 6,000,” Garth says. He says he partially shares his father’s views on light and dark. Garth says it could mean good and evil, good and bad, opposing forces.
1:29 p.m. Prior asks if Garth is LDS. He is. Garth says he interprets his faith different than his father’s. He describes his dad’s faith as more traditional – closer to the way it was 100 years ago.
1:27 p.m. Garth hired Forrest Fischer as an attorney. Garth testified in front of the second grand jury. He had previously testified in another grand jury regarding his father. “I was feeling extremely pressured by the prosecutors,” Garth says. He says the second grand jury was for him. Garth was never indicted.
1:26 p.m. Garth says he asked to have an attorney. Garth was released and he was never charged. Prior asks if there was another occasion where he was asked to change his story. “I was summoned to two separate grand juries,” he says. Prior wants to talk about the second grand jury. “It was made pretty plain that I needed to change my story to fit theirs,” Garth says. “They had a list of charges that they were threatening me with.”
1:24 p.m. Prior asks which officers showed up at his house. Garth names a few. Garth asked if they had a warrant. They said no but told him he needed to go with them. Garth says he felt like he had no choice. He went to the police station and his phone was taken. Garth says his wife had also been detained and they were kept in separate rooms for 5-6 hours. “They were telling me my story was untrue and I needed to change it,” Garth says.
1:22 p.m. Garth learned his mother had been exhumed from Emma. Nobody contacted them ahead of time – “it was a complete surprise.” Prior asks about May 7, 2021. Garth said it started as a normal school day – meaning he was going to go and do his job. He went out to the driveway to his car and there were several law enforcement vehicles across the street. “Several officers got out and surrounded me and insisted I go with them.”
1:21 p.m. Prior asks about the trip to Knott’s Berry Farm. Garth, his dad, Emma and Joe, Adam and Leah all went on the trip. Lori Vallow was not with the group. They drove to Salt Lake and caught a flight to California. During this testimony, Chad is leaning forward on the table looking at his son.
1:20 p.m. Garth said if there had been a struggle or fight, he would have heard it. He says he heard nothing. Garth was present when his family met with the funeral home. Garth said the funeral director said they could have the funeral on Tuesday or Saturday.
1:19 p.m. Garth was awakened a few hours later from his dad saying, “Garth, Garth get up. I need help.” Garth went into his parents’ bedroom and observed his mother rolled out of bed with her feet tangled in the sheets. Garth went to grab his mom and help her into bed. “I felt she was cold and stiff and gray. I realized she’s not been breathing.”
1:17 p.m. Garth left around 7 p.m. His mom said, “Have a good time. I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll let you sleep in.” Garth got home from the haunted attraction around 1 a.m. “As I passed their bedroom, I heard my father snoring,” Garth says. Garth didn’t see any sign of a struggle or fight – as far as he knew, it was a normal night. Garth then watched YouTube in his bedroom until around 3 a.m.
1:15 p.m. Prior asks Garth about the evening of Oct. 18, 2019. Garth was working at a haunted house in Teton – about 20-30 minutes away from his house. He dressed up in a costume and scared people. Garth got home from his first job. Tammy got home before him and said, “I don’t feel good today. I don’t want to cook. Can you go get some McDonald’s for us?” Garth drove to Rexburg and picked up food for himself, mom and dad. Tammy got her favorite meal – the quarter pounder with cheese. Prior says, “A healthy meal.” Garth responds, “Depends.”
1:14 p.m. Garth said he, his mom and dad Googled a picture of a paintball gun to see what a hopper is. Dep. Colter Cannon showed up and Garth says they showed him a photo of a paintball gun on the computer.
1:12 p.m. Prior asks about Oct. 9 – the day of the paintball gun incident. Garth was on the couch watching TV. Chad was working on the computer. When Tammy got home, she came in really panic-stricken saying someone had attacked her with a paintball gun. “When she said that, I was filled with rage and I wanted to go find whoever had done this but before I chased after someone, I said, ‘Are you sure it was a paintball gun?’ She said, ‘Yes, it had the thing on top.'”
1:11 p.m. Garth often worked with his mom in the yard. “She had a hard time doing heavy things. I was her muscle,” he says. Garth says it became increasingly more difficult for Tammy toward the end of her life. “She would have fainting spells.” Garth said the spells happened after Tammy had been kneeling for a while.
1:10 p.m. Garth says all the raccoons were buried behind the silver shed. Garth was concerned that his mom was getting tired extremely easily, she would work hard all day and just come home and collapse. “She had hurt her arm and I wanted her to go get it looked at. She was trying to rub this bruising ointment on it. She refused to go,” Garth says. Tammy did end up going to the doctor.
1:08 p.m. Garth is an 8th grade science teacher at Madison Jr. High School. In October 2019, he also worked as a scare person in a local haunted house. On Sept. 9, 2019, Garth says he got home in the late afternoon. As he pulled in, Chad came up to him wearing yard work clothes. “He sounded very excited,” Garth says. Chad told him he killed another raccoon. Garth believes it was the raccoon that kept breaking out of a cage they were trying to catch. Chad showed Garth he had buried the raccoon behind the silver shed.
1:05 p.m. Prior asks how many times, prior to today, have they spoken to each other. Garth says no more than three including today. Garth says Prior did not tell him what to say. The only advice Prior gave him was to tell the truth.
1:03 p.m. We are back in the courtroom. Several people waiting in line in the hall all day were able to get into the courtroom this afternoon because others left from this morning. Garth Daybell is back on the stand.
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