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Pretty Lies And Alibis

State Responds To Lori Daybe''s Appeal - Part 3: Incompetency and Means Kept Filing Motions

Pretty Lies And Alibis

GiGi McKelvey

True Crime, Society & Culture, Daily News, News, Documentary

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, we continue breaking down the State of Idaho’s response to Lori Vallow Daybell’s appeal, picking up deep into the brief as the State dismantles claims of constitutional violations.
The State argues that Lori Vallow failed all three prongs of the fundamental error test — including claims that her Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated and that her due process rights were ignored while she was deemed incompetent.

We walk through why the court says Mark Means had the opportunity to respond but chose not to, why this was not a structural error, and why any alleged error would be considered harmless under existing case law.

The episode also dives into the key issue of competency, explaining why hearings held in Chad Daybell’s separate criminal case did not violate Lori Vallow’s rights — including her right not to be prosecuted while incompetent or her right to be physically present.

This section of the appeal gives rare insight into what was happening behind the scenes while much of the case was under seal — and why the State is confident none of these arguments will impact her Idaho conviction.




00:00 – Intro & Where We Left Off
Recap of the series and picking back up in the State’s response to Lori Vallow’s appeal
00:55 – Mark Means & Alleged Right-to-Counsel Violation
State argues Means had the opportunity to respond but chose not to
02:17 – Fundamental Error Test: “Error Plainly Exists”
Explanation of the second prong of the Perry test and why the State says Vallow fails it
04:18 – Misuse of Bodenbach Comparison
Why the Idaho Supreme Court’s Bodenbach ruling does not apply here
06:34 – Harmless Error vs Structural Error
State argues this was not a complete deprivation of counsel
08:52 – Hearings Focused on Chad Daybell, Not Lori Vallow
Why Means’ limited role did not violate Vallow’s Sixth Amendment rights
10:01 – No Showing of Prejudice
State explains why Vallow’s arguments are speculative and unsupported
11:19 – New Argument: Due Process & Competency
Whether Vallow’s rights were violated while she was deemed incompetent
13:04 – Right Not to Be Prosecuted While Incompetent
Idaho law on suspension of proceedings and why it didn’t apply here
16:37 – Separate Criminal Case Explained
Why hearings in Chad Daybell’s case did not violate Vallow’s rights
18:55 – Balancing Competing Constitutional Rights
Court’s duty to protect conflict-free counsel and fairness of proceedings
21:10 – Mark Means’ Actions During Incompetency
Why the court acted quickly to disqualify Means
22:33 – Court Left Door Open After Restoration to Competency
Opportunity Vallow had to revisit issues later
24:01 – Right to Be Present at Hearings
Why due process does not require presence in another defendant’s case
26:24 – Why Vallow’s Presence Would Not Have Changed Anything
Competency, waiver issues, and harmless error analysis
29:39 – Failure to Show Error Plainly Exists (Again)
State argues tactical decisions undermine Vallow’s claims
33:03 – Harmless Error Analysis Applies
Why prejudice cannot be presumed
36:14 – Wrapping Up & What’s Next
Preview of the next episode and appeal timeline going forward



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Transcript

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0:00.0

What you know, alibiers, welcome to another episode of Pretty Lies and Alibis. I'm Gigi. It's Tuesday,

0:05.4

December 23rd. I was planning to get an episode in yesterday, but I underestimated the amount of traffic

0:11.4

and people that would be out Christmas shopping and got caught up in that hoopla. But we are going to

0:18.0

keep going today on this state's response to Lori Daybell's filing for her appeal.

0:23.8

When we left off, the state was saying that Mark Means had the opportunity to file a response to the state's motion.

0:30.3

He just chose not to do so.

0:32.0

Valo has failed to prove her constitutional right to counsel was violated.

0:36.5

I remember when this happened, this was a pretty big

0:38.8

deal, and Mark Means went on Twitter, claimed about being kicked off the case, and I remember thinking

0:44.2

this is going to take forever for her to go to trial with a new defense counsel coming in. They have to

0:49.3

catch up. Seems like forever ago. All right. So the next section, Valo has failed to show any error plainly exists in the record.

0:57.1

The second prong of the fundamental error test requires Valo to show the alleged error

1:02.5

plainly exists.

1:04.1

They set a case called Perry.

1:05.9

Demonstrating an error plainly exists requires a showing that the error is clear as a factual matter, without the

1:12.8

need for any additional information not contained in the appellate record, including information as

1:18.9

to whether the failure was to object was a tactical decision. Valo has not shown the error

1:24.7

plainly exists. Her alleged constitutional claim is that the district court

1:29.6

violated her right to counsel by excluding Means from arguing the state's motion to disqualify

1:36.0

in a separate criminal proceeding. But, as explained above, Means had the opportunity to file

1:42.3

a response to the state's argument in his client's criminal proceeding,

1:46.7

but failed to do so for reasons that are anything but plain in the record.

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