2:30 p.m. “There has not been any evidence saying we’re gonna kill the kids. We’re gonna kill Tammy,” Prior says. “There was talk of a plan – 144,000 building a village for the sick, etc. It wasn’t a plan to kill folks – it was a plan to gather by a traditional Mormon.”
2:29 p.m. “If you have doubt about what happened here, the verdict has to be not guilty. That’s what the law says,” Prior says.
2:26 p.m. Prior explains juror instruction #5 – reasonable doubt. He tells the jurors if they don’t know which way this is supposed to go, the verdict is not guilty. “And under our system of justice, it has to be not guilty.” Prior references the teachers and principal and “everyone else who was dragged in” to testify about Tammy’s health. He tells the jury to use common sense.
2:25 p.m. Prior reminds the jury the defendant never has to prove his innocence and he does not have to speak. “They have the burden to prove there was an agreement. They have a duty to prove Chad, in some way, was involved in the murder,” Prior says, referring to the prosecutors.
2:24 p.m. Prior tells the jury to remember the judge’s instructions: rely on their memory, not on what the lawyers say. “If they say something different than what you remember, you rely on your notes. You rely on your memory,” Prior says, pointing to the prosecutors.
2:23 p.m. Prior: “We don’t speculate. We do not engage in conjecture. We do not guess. Facts and evidence. Facts and evidence.”
2:21 p.m. Prior says all Chad did before the attempted shooting of Brandon Boudreaux was Chad carrying a Jeep tire and that he isn’t connected to the shooting. “Fact: Chad Daybell was not involved with Charles Vallow. Fact: Chad Daybell is not implicated with Brandon Boudreaux. Fact: Chad Daybell espoused religious beliefs. Where it the agreement? Where is the agreement? It’s not there.”
2:19 p.m. Prior talks about the Googling of the south/southwest winds the day before Tylee was buried and says Emma Murray testified she Googled it – not Chad. Prior reminds the jury that he called Officer Duncan from Arizona to the stand. Duncan said the prosecutor in Arizona says there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction for Chad Daybell in the Charles Vallow homicide.
2:17 p.m. Prior points to the prosecution and says, “They have not established an agreement.” Prior says Chad espoused religious beliefs but there was no agreement between Chad and the co-conspirators. “Unless there’s an agreement to commit a crime, you can talk all day long about your religious beliefs.”
2:16 p.m. Prior says Chad had traditional Mormon beliefs and it’s not a crime if you have beliefs.
2:15 p.m. “You don’t get to the overt acts, you don’t get to all the things the prosecutor has said about all the things these people have done until you establish that Chad Daybell – by evidence and testimony – has shown there has been an agreement between him and Lori, him and Alex or anyone else,” Prior says.
2:13 p.m. Prior says for years, Chad was writing books about things he was passionate about. He became a little bit of a celebrity. Prior says he doesn’t want to become a celebrity – he’s had enough at this point. Chad went to conferences and talked about his premonitions and things he could predict.
2:12 p.m. Prior says it doesn’t matter if you agree with Chad, death percentages, light and dark – it doesn’t matter. Chad is entitled to his beliefs. Prior says everybody has beliefs and they aren’t all rational.
2:10 p.m. Prior says text messages are often misconstrued. “At no time did the prosecutor show you a text message that said, ‘Let’s kill the kids. Let’s kill Tammy.'” Prior calls Chad a gatherer of the 144,000 and he wanted to gather people – the sick, the elderly, the children, the impoverished, those that can’t handle for themselves.
2:09 p.m. Prior says there was an “enormous” amount of evidence here. He references his expert and the six terabytes of information he references. Prior says you’ve been shown “a handful of messages” and there were thousands and thousands of other messages that talked about religious beliefs and other topics.
2:07 p.m. Prior talks about the crime of conspiracy. “It can’t be an agreement that we have consistent religious beliefs,” Prior says. The extra step in the agreement has to be “we are going to kill these children. We are going to agree to kill Tammy Daybell,” Prior explains. “You can hear all the testimony in the world about dark spirits, light and dark, death percentages” and then Prior reminds the jury about text messages between Chad and Tammy about death percentages.
2:05 p.m. Prior reminds jury the entire burden is on the state and the state must prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt. He says the state must prove there was an agreement between the co-conspirators. “The state has to prove that Chad Daybell with Lori Vallow, Alex Cox or other co-conspirators entered into some sort of an agreement to kill the children and to kill Tammy Daybell.”
2:04 p.m. Prior says he has 15 slides and won’t be too long. “I promise you this isn’t going to take two hours,” he says. The first slide says “A criminal case it like a chain. Each link represents an aspect of the case.”
2:02 p.m. Jurors have been seated. Defense attorney John Prior will begin his closing argument.