'Cult mom' Lori Vallow files motion to disqualify prosecutor in her evidence tampering trial claiming he 'coerced and intimidated' her sister during a phone call with the key witness
‘Cult mom’ Lori Vallow, the Idaho mother charged in relation to the murders of her two children, has filed a motion with the state to disqualify the prosecuting attorney in her trial over allegations he coerced and intimidated a key witness.
According to court documents filed in Fremont County on Tuesday, Vallow’s attorney Mark Means accuses special counsel Robert Wood of committing ‘prosecutorial misconduct’ by coaching witness Summer Shiflet – Vallow’s biological sister – during an October phone call.
‘The recording clearly illustrates Mr. Wood’s attempt to coerce, unduly influence, coach, and or intimidate said material witness to this case,’ the documents state.
Means also accuses Wood of violating Vallow’s rights after ‘discussing matters that support the state’s position of the case,’ with another witness, Zulema Pastenes, at around the same time.
‘The prosecutor engaged in coercive, unduly influence, coaching, and intimidating tactics to manipulate a material witness in this case,’ Means wrote of Wood, adding that he believes the alleged conduct could constitute witness tampering.
Vallow’s attorney Mark Means accuses special counsel Robert Wood of committing ‘prosecutorial misconduct’
Means accuses Wood of coercing and intimidating witness Summer Shiflet – Vallow’s biological sister – during an October phone call
Vallow and her defense team claim that Wood's purported conduct has violated her rights to a free and fair trial.
They further asserted that Wood has breached the Idaho Rules of Professional Conduct and the American Bar Association rules, and that he is now a material witness to the case, among other allegations.
The motion, if granted by a judge, would disqualify Wood as the prosecutor, make him a material witness, allow subpoenas for audio copies of the phonecalls in question, waive all fees and costs for filing the motion, and make the audio recording admissible evidence at trial.
Means has also requested the defense be given an extension on the time it has to review any newly acquired evidence in the case.
‘This misconduct further supports Defendant's motion to extend time to dismiss to allow the Defense to amend its motion and present the newly acquired additional evidence, that was not included in any of the State's discovery responses, including but limited to the most recent discovery responses provided the Defense,’ Means wrote.
The attorney added that the defense will be seeking ‘additional remedies which shall be detailed during the hearing on this motion, if appropriate.’
Vallow is the wife of doomsday author Chad Daybell. The couple are both jailed on charges of conspiracy to hide the remains of her children, 16-year-old Tylee and seven-year-old Joshua 'JJ' Vallow, who vanished from Rexburg, Idaho, in September 2019 but were never reported missing by their mother.
A multi-state search was launched two months later in November 2019 after relatives contacted police and said they hadn't heard from the children in months. The search came to a devastating end in June when JJ and Tylee's bodies were found buried on Chad's property in Salem, Idaho.
Lori and her fifth husband Chad Daybell are both behind bars awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to hide the remains of her children
Summer Cox Shiflet is shown in the above image with Vallow's daughter, Tylee, shortly before her death
Vallow and her defense team claim that Wood's purported conduct has violated her rights to a free and fair trial
Means also accuses Wood of violating Vallow’s rights after ‘discussing matters that support the state’s position of the case,’ with another witness, Zulema Pastenes, at around the same time
The case captured national attention with the revelations that Vallow and Daybell had also been linked to at least four mysterious deaths - including that of her third husband, Joseph Ryan.
Ryan (pictured with Vallow) was ruled to have died of a heart attack on April 3, 2018. His body wasn't discovered until a week later
Ryan died of an apparent heart attack aged 59 in April 2018 in Phoenix - 14 years after he and Vallow divorced in 2004.
Phoenix Police confirmed they are reviewing the investigation into Ryan's death on Monday - days after Ryan's sister Annie Cushing came forward with an audio recording she claimed incriminated Vallow.
In the audio, first provided to the Post Register, a voice identified by Cushing as Vallow can be heard telling friends that she considered murdering Ryan because of a custody battle over their daughter, Tylee, years earlier.
Cushing gave little detail about where she got the audio, which she said was recorded in October 2018 - six months after Ryan's death - at a meeting of a doomsday cult Vallow was allegedly involved in with her fifth husband, Chad Daybell.
Police did not say whether the recording, which has not been authenticated, had anything to do with their decision to review the case. The review does not mean police are reopening the investigation, but indicates that it is a possibility.
Two sources close to the investigation into Ryan's death told OK Magazine last month that both Vallow and her deceased brother Alex Cox are considered persons of interest in the case.
Cox died aged 51 of natural causes stemming from an overdose on the drug Narcan on December 12, 2019.
Tylee, 16, and her brother Joshua 'JJ' Vallow were found buried on the property of Lori's husband Chad in June, nine months after they disappeared
In this aerial photo, investigators search for human remains at Chad Daybell's residence in the 200 block of 1900 East in Salem, Idaho on June 9
Affidavits for Vallow and Daybell's arrests alleged that Cox may have helped the couple bury the bodies of Tylee and JJ on Chad's property.
At the time of his death, Cox was also under investigation for fatally shooting Vallow's fourth husband, Charles Vallow, five months earlier on July 11, 2019.
Police sources claimed both Lori and her late brother Alex Cox are considered persons of interest in Ryan's death. Cox had threatened to kill Ryan in 2007, according to court documents
Charles had gone to Vallow's home in Chandler, Arizona, that day to pick up their adoptive son JJ when the couple got into a verbal altercation and Cox intervened.
Police initially determined that Cox acted in self defense, but the case was reopened amid the search for JJ and Tylee last fall. In August, police said they plan to bring charges against Vallow in that case before the end of the year.
Earlier this year court documents revealed that the incident with Charles was not the first time Cox had been violent with one of Vallow's husbands.
In 2007, Cox was jailed for aggravated assault in Texas after he tasered and threatened to kill Ryan following a hearing in Vallow and Ryan's custody battle over Tylee.
Vallow ultimately won custody of the girl and moved to Arizona. When Phoenix Police contacted her in 2018 to inform her that Ryan had died, she said she hadn't spoken to him in two years.
In the year since Vallow's children went missing, Cushing, Ryan's sister, and other relatives have urged Phoenix Police to open a formal investigation into his death, asserting that his ex-wife may have had something to do with it.
In April of this year an FBI official confirmed that Ryan's death had 'become part of the investigation into Lori Vallow'.
Cushing told the Post Register last week that Phoenix Police had indicated that the case will remain closed. She hoped that perhaps her audio recording could change that.
Days later police put out their statement confirming that the Ryan investigation was under review.
Vallow is now gearing up to face trial alongside Chad after a judge ruled that their cases should be combined last month.
In the meantime, Vallow is now gearing up to face trial alongside Chad after a judge ruled that their cases should be combined last month. A trial date is still be determined.
Vallow is facing two felony counts of conspiracy to destroy or conceal evidence, as well as three misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing officers, solicitation to commit a crime and contempt of court.
Chad is also charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to destroy or conceal evidence, along with two other felony counts for destruction or concealment of evidence.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty and have maintained their innocence.
Neither Chad nor Lori have been accused of harming Tylee or JJ. Authorities have yet to say how the children died, or whether homicide charges will be filed in the future.