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ST. ANTHONY — Chad Daybell pleaded not guilty to felony charges at his District Court Arraignment Friday morning.
Daybell appeared before District Court Judge Steven Boyce who summarized Daybell’s charges of two felony counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence, and two felony counts of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence.
If convicted of all the charges, Daybell faces up to 20 years in prison and up to a $40,000 fine.
Daybell appeared over Zoom sitting next to his attorney John Prior wearing a white shirt and red tie. During the arraignment, Daybell showed little if no emotion.
Daybell is the husband of Lori Vallow Daybell, the mother of 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. The bodies of the children were found buried in the backyard of Chad Daybell’s Salem home on June 9.
Boyce also set Daybell’s jury trial to start Jan 11, 2021. Both the defense and prosecution expect the trial to take three weeks. A pretrial conference is set for Dec. 10 at 10:30 a.m.
Prior will have 60 days from Friday’s arraignment to file a motion if he wants to change venues for the trial.
Since his arrest on June 9, Daybell has been held in the Fremont County Jail on $1 million bail. Earlier this month, Daybell sat in court for his preliminary hearing in which investigators, friends and other witnesses testified.
At the hearing, Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins determined that Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood, who is the special prosecutor on the case, presented enough evidence to advance the case to District Court.
Lori Daybell is also facing felony charges in Fremont County. She is charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration, or concealment of evidence.
Lori Daybell is scheduled for her arraignment on Sept. 10 before District Judge Dane H. Watkins Jr. She waived her preliminary hearing earlier this month.
