Inside the Lori Vallow Daybell Arizona Trial: An Exclusive Interview with Juror Rhysa
The Lori Vallow Daybell case captivated the country. A tragic story involving murdered children, a doomsday belief system, and a defendant who eventually fired her lawyers and decided to represent herself in court. But while most people followed the case through news coverage and true crime podcasts, a small group of ordinary Arizonans had a front-row seat that no one else had: the jury box. Attorney Fletcher Carpenter sat down with Rhysa, one of those jurors, to hear what the experience was really like from the inside.
Watch: Attorney Fletcher Carpenter Sits Down With a Juror From the Lori Vallow Daybell Trial
In this video: Our attorney interviews Rhysa, a juror on the Lori Vallow Daybell attempted murder trial held in Arizona, about her experience from jury selection all the way through deliberations.
Getting the Notice — and Actually Wanting to Serve
Most people dread jury duty. Rhysa was no different — until she scanned the QR code on her summons and read the case summary. When attempted murder came up on the screen, her attitude shifted pretty quickly.
Rhysa was one of the relatively few prospective jurors who could honestly say she hadn’t followed the case. Given how much media attention Lori Vallow Daybell had received, that was enough to keep her in the pool.
A Jury Selection Process Unlike Any Other
The road to actually selecting a jury was anything but smooth. Prospective jurors were sent home three separate times before selection could begin — each time with the judge apologizing and asking them to return. No explanation was given, and jurors were instructed not to research anything about the case in the meantime.
When jury selection finally happened, the questions were surprisingly straightforward: What do you do for a living? Have you served on a jury before? Could you be biased? None of the jurors in the box were struck.
One detail that caught Rhysa off guard: she didn’t realize until opening statements that Lori Vallow Daybell was representing herself. During jury selection, she had assumed Lori was just another attorney in the room. In Arizona, it’s worth noting that lawyers can no longer strike jurors — only the judge has that authority — though Rhysa says no one really explained that to the jury at the time.
Opening Statements and the Question of “Where Does She Come In?”
The prosecution’s opening statement was polished and emotionally compelling. Lori’s was not. But beyond the contrast in presentation, jurors faced a more basic puzzle: for the first several days of trial, it wasn’t entirely clear to them how Lori was connected to the attempted murder of Brandon Daybell at all. Her opening statement focused heavily on her brother, Alex Cox, and it took jurors a few days of testimony before the full picture started to emerge.
The Evidence That Shifted Things
Several pieces of evidence stood out, but one in particular crystallized things for Rhysa: Lori had Alex Cox’s personal cell phone and placed a 24-minute call from his phone to her own — while they were in the same apartment. Phone pings from Verizon and Google showed the two were traveling together throughout Idaho, even as Alex Cox’s presence was being picked up on license plate readers in Arizona. The implication was hard to ignore.
Add to that the fact that Lori lent her Jeep, had the rear seats removed, got the windows tinted, and obtained a burner phone around the same time. And critically, only five people knew Brandon’s new address. Lori’s niece was one of them.
Watching a Pro Se Defendant in Action
Seeing Lori cross-examine witnesses herself was, in Rhysa’s words, unprofessional. Though jurors were instructed not to hold her self-representation against her, and they tried not to. Still, the cross-examinations largely covered the same ground the prosecution had already covered, with Lori repeatedly asking witnesses to clarify things the jury had already heard. She didn’t score any real points, in Rhysa’s view.
The judge handled the proceedings with remarkable patience. Lori called sidebars frequently, with one stretching 15 minutes before going straight into a recess, and there were moments when she was escorted out of the courtroom by the sheriff, though the jury wasn’t present for those. The courtroom technology was a novelty for Rhysa: white noise played for jurors during sidebars, and the headsets and other equipment weren’t something she’d expected.
Deliberations: Less Than 30 Minutes
After electing a foreperson, the jury decided to go home and return fresh the next morning. Deliberations lasted less than 30 minutes. The vote came back guilty across the board almost immediately. Jurors did take a moment to look at the physical evidence — including bullet fragments — but it was more curiosity than deliberation. The decision wasn’t a close call.
After the verdict was read, the courtroom went quiet. Jurors returned to the jury room, sat in near silence for a few minutes, and then the judge came in to thank them and tell them they could finally go home and look it up. They were escorted by police through the back of the courthouse to a shuttle bus — stepping outside to a crowd of media and Brandon Daybell giving interviews on the steps.
What This Case Illustrates About the Jury System
Cases like this one — high-profile, emotionally charged, and involving a self-represented defendant — put enormous demands on jurors. Rhysa’s account is a good reminder of how much work goes into selecting a fair jury, how carefully jurors take their responsibilities, and how the process really does work, even when things get complicated.
Would Rhysa do it again? On an interesting case, yes. Would she ever represent herself if she were the one facing charges? Absolutely not.
About Allen Carpenter PLC
Allen Carpenter PLC is a premier Arizona-based law firm that handles personal injury, wrongful death, insurance disputes, and bad faith claims in Arizona and all across the country. Attorneys Brian Allen and Fletcher Carpenter have litigated hundreds of personal injury cases and recovered tens of millions of dollars for their clients.
Last Updated: June 4, 2026