Vallow Daybell, who did not call any witnesses or introduce any evidence in her defense, told the court that her brother had been acting in self-defense when he shot her ex-husband, who she claimed had chased her around the house with a bat. Her brother Alex died five months later from a blood clot in his lungs.

Dubbed the "doomsday mom," Lori Daybell has maintained that her brother shot her then-husband of 13 years, Charles Vallow, in self-defense in her home in Chandler, Arizona, in July 2019. Her brother, Alex Cox, died from natural causes months after the shooting. She had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.