Jury deliberation underway in Lori Daybell's second Arizona trial

PHOENIX — The second week of Lori Daybell’s second Arizona trial is underway.

In this case, Daybell is accused of conspiring to kill her niece's ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux. Prosecutors allege she had help from her now-late brother, Alex Cox. Gilbert police describe this as an attempted shooting that happened back in October 2019.

Around noon on Wednesday, the state rested their case. Daybell did not testify or call any witnesses, which led to jury deliberation on the case.

Watch Day 5 coverage from the courtroom in the video player below:

DAY 5 - STATE'S FINAL WITNESS

Watch a recap of the fifth day of this trial from reporter Ashley Holden:

Prosecutors said their final witness would be Nicholas Ballance, an FBI special agent who mapped cell and Google locations for certain cellular devices. Those included the cell phones of Daybell, Cox, and a burner phone prosecutors allege was bought by the siblings and being used by Cox.

Prosecutor Treen Kay showed a presentation made by Balance. It showed the location of Cox's phone on the day of the shooting, as with Daybell. The burner phone, which Special Agent Ballance said was associated with Cox's Gmail, is mapped to Arizona in the area of Brandon Boudreaux's home around the time of the attempted shooting.

The special agent is showing what prosecutors allege as Daybell trying to help give her brother an alibi. Prosecutors allege that Cox took the burner phone to Arizona, only calling the phone number associated with Daybell's current husband.

Daybell chose to cross-examine the special agent, pointing out that he couldn't place people, only devices.

After this witness, the state rested its case.

Daybell decided to not call any witnesses or present any evidence. She also chose not to testify.

The jury will have the case after both sides present their closing arguments.

12 jurors will make the decision, with three being selected as alternates. It would have been four, but one juror was excused before the trial even started.

Day 4:

Watch a recap of the fourth day of this trial from reporter Ashley Holden:

The day started how Monday ended, with the case agent on the stand. Det. Pillar answered questions from Daybell, who is representing herself.

Daybell focused on the testing done or not done by the police department. She asked how her team was supposed to do testing when they didn't maintain possession of the Jeep.

Det. Pillar said that this was early on in the investigation and described testing, like on the fragments found by police, that wasn't possible.

Daybell also asked where the detective learned his information and faced quite a few objections from the prosecution.

There were multiple sidebars throughout the cross-examination as Daybell also tried to ask about financials involving the Boudreaux family.

Prosecutors have warned Daybell that they need to know her defense, including if that means pointing the blame at Boudreaux's ex-wife, Melani.

Watch the courtroom feed of coverage from day three on Tuesday, June 10:

Daybell, during the first week, said she was not trying to blame Melani. During the first and second weeks, the so-called doomsday mom was able to ask specific questions regarding emails from detectives to Boudreaux that touched on financials.

Redirect worked to clarify certain topics Daybell tried to question.

The jury asked questions following the case agent's testimony. Remember, in Arizona, jurors are allowed to ask questions of witnesses. They write it down on a piece of paper, and then the parties go over the question.

They then decide if the question can be asked and if there's any follow-up from the defense or prosecution.

One question that stood out was whether it was common for witnesses not to remember colors accurately.

Boudreaux described the Jeep as green, and others as dark-colored. Daybell has asked about the color during cross-examination quite a bit.

Det. Pillar said that discrepancies in things like color are common at emotional or violent scenes in his experience.

The final witness called before the lunch break was Vanessa Mielke, a forensic scientist with Mesa.

Mielke testified that DNA was found on multiple areas of the Jeep, including the steering wheel, and was a match for Alex Cox.

After a lunch break, two witnesses took the stand in the afternoon: a forensic scientist with Phoenix and Lt. Ray Hermosillo with the Rexburg Police Department in Idaho.

The forensic scientist, Kyle Mueller, addressed the testing for gunshot residue in the Jeep. Prosecutors asked after testing what his conclusion was.

"That the inside of the vehicle was in the vicinity of a firearm when it was discharged or came into contact with GSR on it," said Mueller.

But Lt. Hermosillo was the key witness of the week so far.

As the prosecution works to prove Daybell was a part of this conspiracy, prosecutor Treena Kay had the lieutenant walk the jury through the evidence his department gathered.

Daybell has already been convicted of multiple crimes in Idaho, including the murders of her two kids.

Lt. Hermosillo's testimony connected aspects Kay had laid the foundation for, including information about a burner phone they allege Daybell and Cox purchased.

They showed records from that phone, searches allegedly made by Cox and Daybell using email addresses, and receipts found that connected the Jeep further to Arizona on the day before the shooting.

Pictures were shown of items found during the search of the townhomes where police believed the siblings were living in Idaho.

Surveillance video was also shown in court from an Idaho storage unit.

Police said it showed Daybell and her current husband loading a tire and possibly a row of seats into the unit on the day of the alleged shooting.

Then the next day, police said Daybell and her brother removed the items.

Police allege some of the online searches made by Daybell and her brother included how to prepare the Jeep and the news in Gilbert or the East Valley. Those links shown in court included an ABC15 webpage.

Daybell chose not to cross-examine Lt. Hermosillo. Prosecutors said they have one more witness to call, so they could rest their case Wednesday.

If Daybell doesn't call any witnesses or put up any evidence, like in her first Arizona trial, the Judge said closing arguments could begin right away.

Day 3:

The start of the trial this week comes after an explosive day of testimony in the first week, when Daybell was kicked out, key witnesses took the stand, and Daybell faced various objections as she represents
herself once again.

Court on Monday was supposed to start at 10:30 a.m., but everyone in the gallery was moved out of the courtroom for about 30 minutes. Court started after the delay with no explanation on what topic the sidebar covered.

The final witness on the stand Friday was the case agent, a detective with the Gilbert Police Department. Prosecutors asked to go out of order and start Monday with a new witness.

In court, prosecutor Treena Kay said several witnesses would be flying in to testify this week.

Dan Moss, who owns a window tint company in Idaho, was the first witness called on day three.

Watch the courtroom feed of coverage from day three on Monday, June 9:

Forensic scientists and DEA agents also took the stand Monday. The forensic scientists were with Mesa at the time and quickly testified about the work they did for testing on the case.

The DEA agent helps supervise the national license plate reader (LPR) program, was also called Monday. He testified about the system and the photos captured of Daybell's Jeep in Arizona near Holbrook on Oct. 1, 2019. The Jeep, prosecutors allege, was made available and prepared by Daybell for the attempted shooting.

The first responding office in October 2019 also took the stand, describing what she saw that day and Boudreaux's demeanor.

She also detailed the call she made to another officer who was in the area looking for a possible suspect.

"And I explained to him this is no BB gun, this is an actual bullet hole," said first responding officer Lisa Perry. "We do have a crime here."

The final witness on the stand was the case agent, a Gilbert Police Detective, who was originally on the stand Friday. Prosecutors are going out of order with their witnesses, which was expected as they work to get witnesses on the stand who had to travel to Arizona.

Det. Ryan Pillar testified to the testing done on the Jeep and the search warrants filed for cell phones.

The Gilbert detective said they didn't find any viable fingerprints, but they did do testing for gunshot residue and DNA.

Prosecutors allege Daybell tried to use phones and calls to give Cox an alibi and that the siblings bought a burner phone.

Daybell chose not to cross-examine every witness, but many of those in law enforcement.

She attempted to ask about the investigation and the steps they took.

At times, asking out-of-the-box questions about the outfit someone was wearing while collecting evidence, and if it would be difficult to hit a target 10 feet away.

She also asked the case agent about his communication with a Private Investigator Boudreaux allegedly hired. During that line of questioning, the judge warned Daybell after she faced objections.

Daybell has been warned multiple times about "opening the door" to other cases and information. The so-called doomsday mom's past convictions have not been brought into court. Last week, prosecutors told the judge that if character evidence was continually used, that would open the door for them to bring that information in.

Watch a recap of the third day of this trial from reporter Ashley Holden:

While this second Arizona trial plays out, Monday also marks five years since the remains of Daybell's two kids were found on her current husband's property in Idaho.

Kay Woodcock, JJ Vallow's grandma, has been in court here in Arizona for both trials.

Court will resume with Det. Pillar on the stand Tuesday at 10:15 a.m.

See a recap of the first week of this trial here.

A jury found Daybell guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in her first Arizona trial in April. The charge in that case related to the death of her former husband, Charles Vallow.

ABC15 will stream Lori Daybell's Arizona trial as it unfolds live on the ABC15 streaming app, as well as the ABC15 YouTube channel.