Lori Vallow Daybell frustrated with Judge, asks him to recuse himself

PHOENIX (KIFI) - Lori Vallow Daybell gets frustrated with an Arizona judge during a pretrial hearing on Wednesday morning.

Vallow Daybell is accused of attempting to kill her niece’s ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux.

Several motions were heard during Wednesday’s hearing, including the finalization of the witness list for the trial.

The trial is expected to begin on May 29 with jury selection.  

Judge Justin Beresky inquired about the relevance of the witnesses on Vallow Daybell's list.

Her witness list includes several witnesses from previous trials, but they are not listed with the state.  They are Detective Jeffrey White, and Detective Moffitt.

“It will come apparent if they have to get up and testify, your honor, I will only call them if I need them,” Vallow-Daybell responded.

“They would have to be precluded if you can't give me some minimal what relevant information they have, just saying that they're relevant doesn't make them relevant,” Judge Beresky responded.

“And this procedure that I have to say what each of my witnesses are relevant ahead of time And give my whole case and chief over to the State?” asked Lori.

“Yeah, that’s how it works, yes,” Judge Beresky said.

Following the review of court dates, Lori requested that Judge Beresky recuse himself from the trial because of bias.

When asked what bias he had, Vallow Daybell said, “Obviously, the personal bias that you're showing right now and that you've shown on the FTR several times during the trial.”

Well, I don't have any personal bias,” Judge Beresky said. “All right. I've overaccommodated you on when you have to disclose things. In fact, your expert should be summarily precluded today. And I haven't done that.”

“You’ve denied every single one of my motions since for a year and a half they've been here. Every single one of my motions has been denied. And have any of those motions not have merit? You've denied every single motion,” Vallow Daybell said.

“I think I was here this morning about 15 minutes ago, when I granted your motion to meet with your attorneys over the lunch hour. I have granted other motions of yours,” Judge Beresky said.

“That's the first motion that you've ever granted in my behalf,” said Vallow Daybell.  

Well, file motions that have a legal basis, and I might grant them,” Judge Beresky said.

“So, you're saying none of my motions have had merit?” Vallow Daybell asked.

“Not, not many, no,” Judge Beresky said.

“And none of the motions that my first team, you’ve denied every one of my first team’s motions, you denied every one of my second teams’ motions. And now you have denied every one of my motions, until today,” Vallow Daybell said.

“I haven't denied every one of your motions,” Judge Beresky said.

“Every single one of the motions was denied. Every single one of the second team’s emotions was denied. And all mine. So you didn't come into this with any bias against me in the first place. Again, file a motion that has legal merit.

The discussion continued until Judge Beresky said it was enough discussed and will not recuse himself from the case.

Testimony in the trial is scheduled to begin on June 2 and go through June 13, 2025.