LIVE UPDATES: Judge abruptly stops jury selection in Lori Daybell Arizona Boudreaux trial

Lori Vallow Daybell is on trial in Maricopa County, Arizona, on one charge of conspiracy to commit the murder of Brandon Boudreaux, her former nephew-in-law. Nate Eaton is live in the courtroom with updates. Please excuse any typos. Times listed below are in Mountain Standard Time, so they are an hour behind Idaho. (Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time.) The most recent updates are at the top.

2:03 p.m. Judge distributes his rulings to the prosecution and the defense. Court is in recess. Lori leaves the courtroom. Will have more tonight on “Courtroom Insider” at 8 p.m. MT.

2:01 p.m. Beresky has issued written rulings on the outstanding motions. He will hand those out to the prosecutor and the defense. Judge tells Lori if she has issues in the jail and is quarantined, she should let her team know. He does not elaborate.

2 p.m. Beresky’s assistant is going outside to let the jurors know they can leave. He says he can be done with his questioning by noon on Monday and the jury could possibly be seated by 3 p.m. He would then expect prosecution and defense to give their opening statements.

1:59 p.m. Judge reads through a list of juror numbers who said they would not be able to come back on Monday. Treena Kay says if all of them are dismissed, 54 jurors are left to come back on Monday for voir dire. Lori agrees.

1:57 p.m. Brandon Boudreaux and his wife are in court with a victim advocate. The jurors have left the room. Beresky says three of the 68 jurors did not show up. One of the jurors in the group has a camping trip on Friday. Treena Kay says she can check if her witness schedule can be adjusted and trial be held next Friday.

1:56 p.m. Judge apologizes for the delay and says it’s due to “unforeseen circumstances. It’s not anyone’s fault.”

1:55 p.m. Judge tells the group not to look up anything about this case. He is going to talk with the attorneys about who to let go and who to come back on Monday. He tells the jurors if they do not hear from the court, they need to return Monday. “Again – please don’t look up anything about this case. Don’t talk to anyone about this case.”

1:54 p.m. Judge asks if anyone would not be available to come to court next Friday for the trial. Originally next Friday was supposed to be dark. Sounds like today’s delay may bump everything back.

1:53 p.m. Judge asks if anyone has looked up this case or any names involved in the case. Nobody raises their number.

1:52 p.m. Many jurors have childcare issues, one has nonrefundable plane tickets, one has tickets to take her grandkids to the movies.

1:49 p.m. Original plan was for the jury to be picked this afternoon with opening statements on Monday.

1:48 p.m. Many jurors have work obligations, health issues or other conflicts that they say will prohibit them from coming on Monday.

1:44 p.m. All the potential jurors are in the courtroom and Beresky is asking who would not be able to come back on Monday. Multiple jurors raise their numbers and judge is questioning each of them.

1:44 p.m. Back in the courtroom. Judge Justin Beresky says something has come up in Lori Vallow Daybell case that will prevent further jury selection today. He does not explain further.

10:31 a.m. Lori wants further clarification on how she should address it. Beresky tells her to consult with her advisory attorneys about how to handle it. Nothing further this morning. Treena Kay says Brandon Boudreax will be here this afternoon. We will be back around 1:15 p.m. for jury selection. I’ll post more updates at that time.

10:28 a.m. Beresky clarifies that the state is attempting to apply with the order to not reference any of her prior cases. That’s why it will be referred to as an incident on July 11, 2019. Beresky asks Lori if there is anything else. Lori asks, “When I have anyone on the stand who has testified prior in Idaho, can I use the terminology, ‘You testified in an earlier hearing’ so we don’t go into what the trial is? How do you want me to handle that?” Beresky says to use, “In a prior proceeding.”

10:26 a.m. Treena wants to put on the record that when she references Charles’ murder, she will say “an incident in Chandler in July 2019 involving Lori Vallow and Alex Cox” as the case is not allowed to be mentioned in the trial.

10:25 a.m. Treena Kay asks if we are going to deal with the outstanding motions. He responds, “Given what happened yesterday, I think it would be a safer course of action to issue written rulings.”

10:23 a.m. Judge says he will take a look at the rule and asks if there are any other concerns or questions about jury instruction. Lori has an issue where it talks about the actual charge. “Should it read ‘the attempt’ instead of ‘commission’?” she asks. We don’t have the jury instructions, so unsure what the context is of the questions. State responds that the wording is correct. Lori has no other issues with the instructions.

10:21 a.m. Lori wants some clarification about a particular jury instruction. Beresky is reviewing it.

10:18 a.m. Only two advanced from this morning’s group. Judge asks if the parties had a chance to look at the preliminary instructions. Lori is consulting with her advisory attorney.

10:17 a.m. Judge has finished the list. A total of 68 jurors will report at 1:15 p.m. for in-person voir dire.

10:12 a.m. We are on juror #18. A total of 25 will be read this morning. Judge is moving fast.

10:11 a.m. Lori is dressed in a black pant suit with a purple top. She is allowed to be in street clothes because jurors will be brought in this afternoon for in-person voir dire. Her advisory attorneys are here.

10:08 a.m. Today’s group of jurors did not fill out the e-questionnaire. They showed up at the courthouse today as walk-ins. Judge Beresky has read through 12 jurors so far. Many of them don’t speak or understand English. Others have hardships. So far, none of the 12 have advanced.

10:05 a.m. Back in the courtroom. Jury selection continues in Lori Vallow Daybell’s trial. Yesterday 66 potential jurors advanced from a group of 295.