Lori Vallow Found Incompetent to Stand Trial

Chad Daybell or Lori Vallow have been recently charged with murder. Thousands of people have watched this case unfold since her two children, 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, went missing in September 2019. In June 2020, the children’s remains were found buried in the pet cemetery next to a fire pit on Chad Daybell’s property. JJ and Tylee were not the only alleged victims of these lovebirds; since 2018, at least four other people have mysteriously died. An Idaho grand jury, convinced that Chad and Lori had a hand in several of these deaths, recently handed down nine felony counts, including multiple first-degree murder charges, conspiracy to commit murder charges, or both in the death of Lori’s then-husband Charles, Chad’s then-wife Tammy, and Lori’s two children.

However, within a day, another turn of events sparked speculation and outrage. A psychologist, asked by the defense team to conduct a psychological evaluation on Lori Vallow, found her incompetent to stand trial and recommended restorative treatment. The reactions were swift and harsh: “She’s faking.” “This is total BS. She knows how to work the system.” “She gets to play the insanity card. Please don’t let her get out; she’ll just do it again.” There was criticism of the judge, vicious comments about the defense team, incendiary remarks about the evaluating psychologist.

Incompetent Is Not Insane

I think there are a couple of reasons for the intensity of this response. First, this case was in the public…