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Lori Vallow appears in court, waives preliminary hearing

Waiving the preliminary hearing means that Vallow's case will proceed automatically to district court for trial.
Credit: NBC pool
Lori Vallow in court

FREMONT COUNTY, Idaho — The mother of two children who were found dead on her new husbands property in Fremont County in June waived her preliminary hearing in the case during a brief court hearing Thursday morning.

Lori Vallow is charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to destroy or conceal evidence, as well as misdemeanors for contempt, resisting and obstructing and criminal solicitation to commit a crime.

Neither Vallow nor her husband Chad Daybell has been charged directly with killing 7-year-old JJ Vallow or 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, who prosecutors have described as "victims of homicide."

RELATED: Chad Daybell case moved up to district court after recorded jail call, FBI testimony

JJ's body was found wrapped in plastic and duct tape in a shallow grave, while Tylee had been dismembered and burned before being buried in Daybell's pet cemetery. 

Waiving the preliminary hearing means that Vallow's case will proceed automatically to district court for trial. Unlike in Daybell's case, in which the preliminary hearing was held earlier this week, witnesses for the prosecution will not be allowed to testify until they are called at trial.

RELATED: 'It doesn't feel right': Friend confronted Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell about missing kids on recorded call

A judge ordered Daybell's case to be moved up to district court Tuesday after hearing the evidence in his preliminary hearing.

Appearing via Zoom, Vallow told the judge that she had talked the decision over with her attorney and that she was willingly giving up her right to the hearing.

Vallow will next be scheduled for a district court arraignment, at which time she will be required to enter a plea to the charges against her. The date of the arraignment has not yet been set.

Read Vallow's filing waiving her right to a preliminary hearing:

Watch more on the case of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan:

See all of the latest coverage in our YouTube playlist:

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