So-called "Doomsday Mom" Lori Vallow Daybell, who is representing herself in the murder conspiracy trial of her fourth husband, is shaking up the courtroom with fiery exchanges during testimony.

Prosecutors are accusing Vallow Daybell of conspiring with her late brother, Alex Cox, to murder her late husband, Charles Vallow, to benefit from a $1 million life insurance policy and marry another man, Chad Daybell, in 2019. 

The Arizona trial comes nearly two years after Vallow Daybell and her current husband, Chad Daybell, were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 2019 murders of Vallow's two youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, as well as the 2019 murder of Chad Daybell's first wife, Tammy Daybell.

On Wednesday, the second day of the trial, witness Nancy Jo Hancock — a woman who went on a date with Charles Vallow in July 2019 the night before Vallow was shot and killed — got into a heated exchange with Vallow Daybell during cross-examination.

‘DOOMSDAY MOM’ LORI VALLOW SHARES WHY SHE MADE UNUSUAL LEGAL MOVE FOR 2ND MURDER TRIAL: ‘FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE’

In court, Vallow Daybell asked Hancock about the date, and whether Hancock knew that she and Vallow were still married at the time.

"Would you have gone out on a date with him if he would have said he was married?" Vallow Daybell asked.

"If I would have realized how married he still was, maybe not," Hancock replied. "But I just met for dinner. I wasn't sleeping with him or anything."

WATCH VALLOW'S CROSS-EXAMINATION OF HANCOCK:

"Do you go on dates with married men, naturally?" Vallow Daybell fired back, before the prosecution objected and called her question "argumentative and harassment."

Daybell Vallow continued to question Hancock, who fired back after she continued to be pressed on the date.

"So you spent your whole date getting to know each other, talking about me?" Vallow Daybell asked.

"Don't flatter yourself," Hancock replied. "No, we did not spend the whole time talking about you." 

The heated exchange has taken the internet by storm with several reactions being shared online. 

At a different moment during her cross-examination of Hancock, Vallow Daybell again asked the witness if she was aware during her date with Charles Vallow that he was "on dating websites and dating women."

The prosecution objected on the premise of speculation, which the judge sustained. Vallow Daybell then reframed her question, asking if Charles Vallow informed Hancock about the "situation of" Lori and Charles "being separated."

"He was under the impression that you were having an affair, so him moving on was a natural progression of that," Hancock responded.

'DOOMSDAY CULT MOM' ASKS COURT TO BAN CAMERAS FROM UPCOMING MURDER TRIAL

Vallow Daybell then asked for more information about Hancock's communications with Kay Woodcock, Charles Vallow's sister by adoption. JJ Vallow referred to Kay and her husband, Larry Woodcock, as his grandparents. After asking Hancock to describe her communications with Woodcock, Vallow Daybell suddenly cut the witness off when she began discussing JJ Vallow.

"To express my condolences for her brother passing away and wanted to let her know that I had had dinner with him that last night and how much he loved JJ and how excited he was to see him the next morning and just — " Hancock started before Vallow Daybell interrupted.

"Thank you. That's enough," the defendant said.

WATCH VALLOW CUT OFF HANCOCK:

The next bizarre exchange came between Vallow Daybell and her brother, Adam Cox, who told the jury that he had flown to Phoenix right before Charles' death, claiming he went to help Charles stage an intervention with his sister.

During the cross-examination, Vallow Daybell did not ask many questions, seemingly to prove that they had not interacted with each other in years.

"Last time I remember our communications was you and I were speaking in the kitchen, when the family was over," Cox said.

"So you think that was that time in 2018?" Vallow Daybell asked.

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"I think so," Cox responded.

"And were we eating my green chile chicken enchiladas?" she asked.

"I do not remember that," Cox replied.

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Vallow Daybell questioned him again about not remembering that and said "that is what I made every time there was a family get-together, which was like 10 times a year." 

WATCH VALLOW'S CROSS-EXAMINATION OF HER BROTHER:

Vallow Daybell explained to True Crime Arizona that she had been "working on her case for five years" and knows it "better than an attorney can learn it in two years," after making the decision to represent herself. 

"Here's the thing, when you waive your speedy trial, then they can keep you here as long as you want," Vallow told True Crime Arizona. "There are intelligent, strong, beautiful women in here that have been here for eight years because of family tragedies. It’s the same, like my case, a family tragedy, not crime. A family tragedy, and they’re waiting, and they’re facing the death penalty for a family tragedy."

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At the time of Charles Vallow's murder, his daughter, Tylee, confronted him with a baseball bat after hearing screaming inside the house. Charles reportedly took the bat from Tylee, who told police she was trying to protect her mother, and allegedly tried to attack Cox. Cox told investigators he fired his gun in self-defense and was never charged in Charles' death before he died of natural causes months later. 

Vallow Daybell could face another life sentence if convicted and is also facing another Arizona trial in May for an alleged plot to kill her niece’s ex-husband after a judge denied her motion to dismiss the case.

Fox News Digital's Julia Bonavita contributed to this report. 

Quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberber's defense team brought up two DNA samples from unidentified males at the King Road home where he is accused of killing four University of Idaho undergrads, as part of their effort to have his arrest warrants thrown out.

Two unidentified male blood samples, one on a handrail and one on a glove outside, were recovered by investigators after the stabbing deaths of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncavles, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Ethan Chapin, 20. Neither matched Kohberger, and they came from different subjects.

With the sources of both in question, defense attorney Anne Taylor told Ada County Judge Steven Hippler at a hearing last month that it could mean Kohberger, 30, is not related to the crime at all.

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"That was an interesting piece of information," Boise-based defense attorney Edwina Elcox told Fox News Digital. "I think the defense tries to raise the issue and muddy the waters with it."

But in the pretrial stage, the judge seemed unconvinced that the presence of two other DNA samples would be a reason to throw out probable cause for Kohberger's arrest. Detectives made another damning find – a Ka-Bar knife sheath under Mogen's body.

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"His DNA is still on the knife sheath though," Hippler told Taylor in court. "That's the problem, counsel."

Taylor argued that detectives had misled Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall with their probable cause affidavit by leaving out details about the other blood. Hippler drilled home the connection between the suspect and the DNA found under Mogen's body.

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"How does that, even if disclosed, preclude a finding of probable cause when there's a DNA match between the DNA on the sheath and Mr. Kohberger?" Hippler asked. "Isn't that probable cause every day and twice on Sunday?" 

Taylor argued, "Not in this context." In pretrial motions she unsuccessfully attacked the FBI's investigative genetic genealogy work, which generated a lead that led police to Kohberger. She plans to further dissect the investigatory method at trial.

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"What does a knife sheath at a scene mean?" Taylor posited. "That's going to be the ultimate question."

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"If you're killed by a knife, it probably means a lot," Hippler replied. "Probable cause is not a proof beyond a reasonable doubt standard. It's a probable cause to think that this person might have done it. And I'm not sure how that direct DNA connection to a sheath found on or near one of the victims doesn't close the book on anything on probable cause after that."

But the samples could create reasonable doubt before a jury at trial.

"Of course they will try to use it, but where were the other male blood samples at the scene? What was the weight of the DNA?" said Linda Kenney Baden, a prominent New York defense attorney whose clients have included Casey Anthony and Aaron Hernandez. "All these are questions for the jury but do not preclude the sheath DNA being used both for the search warrant."

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The location of these samples matters, she said. One was found on a handrail inside, another on a glove outdoors.

"Now if the same unknown DNA is in a bedroom and on a victim then it becomes more important, but not for probable cause for the search warrant," she said. 

Taylor will likely argue that the unknown blood came from one or more killers – who have no connection to her client, said David Gelman, a New Jersey-based defense attorney who has been following the case.

"Defense Counsel will pound that theory," he told Fox News Digital. "This is a theme of reasonable doubt they will use. It could actually be a powerful part of the defense."

After the hearing, Hippler said he had not yet decided whether the defense will receive a Franks hearing, which would allow Kohberger's team to attack the warrants in court.

Kohberger is scheduled for trial later this year. Before his defense successfully argued for a change of venue, Latah County Judge John Judge entered not guilty pleas on the suspect's behalf at his arraignment in May 2023.

Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted.

Idaho lawmakers are moving to bolster their newly restored firing squad as the state's primary means of execution with eight current death row inmates and the capital murder trial of student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger approaching.

"I, along with many others, believe the firing squad is more certain, has less appellate issues, and is more humane than other forms of execution," Idaho state Rep. Bruce Skaug, who introduced the legislation, told Fox News Digital. "We had a botched lethal injection attempt in Idaho last year."

In March 2023, the state revived the firing squad as a backup option for when lethal injection, a troubled and increasingly controversial method of execution, is not available.

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Then last year, condemned serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech survived his lethal injection, prompting renewed interest in the firing squad.

The new move would make the firing squad the state's primary means of capital punishment – without any additional cost to taxpayers, since funding for the execution chamber was included in the previous bill.

Kohberger's defense, meanwhile has sought to have the death penalty taken off the table and is challenging warrants and DNA evidence used in his arrest.

Two days of hearings on defense motions in the quadruple murder case against University of Idaho student stabbings suspect ended without any official decisions but revealed new details ahead of his highly anticipated trial later this year. The judge is expected to deliver his decisions within a couple of weeks.

IDAHO'S MOVE TO RESURRECT FIRING SQUAD ‘MAKES SENSE’ AS ‘QUICKEST, SUREST’ DEATH PENALTY OPTION, EXPERT SAYS

Fordham Law School professor Deborah Denno, a leading expert on the death penalty in the U.S., previously told Fox News Digital that the firing squad is accepted as the most efficient and humane means of execution.

"We've had three modern firing squad executions, and they have gone off as intended, and the inmate has died quickly and with dignity," she said after Creech's failed execution. "So, I think that is something to emphasize."

Lethal injections have been plagued by mishaps, drug shortages and botched attempts. Creech was the fourth person to survive a lathe execution in just the last few years.

IDAHO GOVERNOR SIGNS LAW ALLOWING FIRING SQUAD EXECUTIONS

Denno has advocated for giving inmates a choice in their means of execution.

"I have a hunch that more inmates would choose firing squad," she told Fox News Digital, noting that Tennessee inmates have begun choosing electrocution over lethal injection when given the choice.

Only four states have an option for the firing squad, although its use is extremely rare, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which also describes lethal injections as the "most-botched" execution method.

Matt Mangino, a former Pennsylvania prosecutor who wrote a book on capital punishment, "The Executioner's Toll, 2010," said in the current political climate, he believes the new Idaho bill will pass.

IDAHO STUDENT MURDERS SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER COULD FACE DEATH BY FIRING SQUAD UNDER PROPOSED LAW IF CONVICTED

Lethal injections look modern and even "clinical," he said, but can be far more gruesome than they appear. One of the drugs in the typical injection cocktail is a paralyltic meant to keep the condemned from writhing – for witness' comfort not their own. 

Idaho currently has eight death row inmates, including Creech, and is gearing up or a high-profile trial over the stabbing murders of four college students. Suspect Bryan Kohberger, a 30-year-old former criminology Ph.D. student, could face the death penalty if convicted.

Kohberger is scheduled for trial later this year in connection with the home invasion murders of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, an Ethan Chapin, also 20.

The firing squad bill remains in committee. A hearing and public testimony has not yet been scheduled, Skaug said.

As Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger's trial approaches, his defense is drawing comparisons to another high-profile case that rocked the state, the murder trial of "cult mom" Lori Vallow, who, along with her fifth husband, killed her two children and his ex-wife in 2019.

She's scheduled to go on trial for two additional homicides in Arizona, the murders of her ex-husband Charles Vallow and a man named Brandon Boudreaux, who had been married to her niece.

Kohberger, accused of massacring four University of Idaho students in a 4 a.m. home invasion in November 2022, asked a Boise judge to punish prosecutors for their handling of discovery in his case.

IDAHO MURDERS SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER IN COURT AS DEFENSE CHALLENGES PROSECUTION METHODS

The University of Idaho victims were Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. All four died of multiple stab wounds.

Police said they found a Ka-Bar knife sheath under Mogen's body with DNA on it that led them to arrest Kohberger at his parents' house in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. He was a Ph.D. student studying criminology at Washington State University at the time of the slayings.

The school is a 10-minute drive from the site of the crime.

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"Kohberger’s defense team is going to try every way possible to get the death penalty off the table," said Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based defense attorney who previously represented Vallow. "To accomplish that would be a massive win. But, at this stage, I do not think the defense’s arguments regarding discovery will accomplish that. However, they are clearly paving the way to raise this in the future. "

She said she could not comment on Vallow specifically due to their past attorney-client relationship.

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Kohberger's defense last month asked for sanctions against the prosecution. Defense lawyers did not ask for those sanctions to include striking the death penalty, but, down the line, they could ask for more.

"There’s a strategic reason the defense is doing this. If the judge agrees that the prosecution hasn’t complied with its discovery obligations, he can sanction the prosecution, and one of those sanctions may be taking the death penalty off the table," said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who first noted the Vallow sanction earlier this month, when Kohberger's defense asked the judge to punish prosecutors for delays.

Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted, but in Vallow's Idaho murder trial, capital punishment was taken off the table after prosecutors missed a deadline.

BRYAN KOHBERGER DEFENSE WANTS PROSECUTION PUNISHED OVER DELAYS

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"That’s what happened in the recent Lori Vallow doomsday ‘cult mom’ case in Idaho," Rahmani said. "The judge in that case removed the death penalty because of the prosecution’s delay in turning over evidence. Saving Kohberger’s life would be a huge win for the defense."

The defense only needs to convince one juror of reasonable doubt to upend the case, said David Gelman, a New Jersey-based defense attorney who is also following the case closely.

"Vallow uses reasonable doubt perfectly and keeps hounding that nobody can place her there," he said. "The Kohberger attorneys are doing the same thing."

Kohberger has been in court multiple times this week and is due back later Friday as he seeks to have key evidence tossed. His lawyers have also accused prosecutors of repeated delays in the discovery process.

IDAHO PROSECUTORS REJECT BRYAN KOHBERGER'S MANY ATTACKS ON SEARCH WARRANTS

"The bulk of the State’s expert disclosures fail to include opinions and reports. These inadequate disclosures greatly prejudice Mr. Kohberger who is obligated to submit defense guilt phase expert disclosures by January 23, 2025," Kohberger defense lawyers Anne Taylor, Jay Logsdon and Elisa Massoth wrote in a court filing in late December. 

The sanctions considered must be the exclusion of the experts or, at a bare minimum, an order compelling proper disclosure and an extension of Mr. Kohberger’s January 23, 2025 deadline."  

Without the disclosures, they argued, they have no idea what expert evidence to prepare to fight in court.

"In a perfect world, they would have had everything by now, but this case is so big that there’s always more discovery that comes up," Gelman said.

Judge Steven Hippler on Wednesday denied a defense motion to unseal documents related to some of the disputed DNA evidence in the case, agreeing with prosecutors that letting it out before trial could potentially influence the jury pool. 

"The best defense is a good offense, and I’m not surprised Kohberger’s team is aggressively going after the prosecution," Rahmani said. "Discovery is one way in criminal cases, which means the state has to turn over all of its evidence, including expert witness reports."

Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted. He faces four charges of first-degree murder and another of felony burglary.

Six states, including one with a Democratic governor, have either banned or prohibited the use of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in public colleges and universities this year.

The practice of DEI in higher educational institutions has been controversial for several years, most frequently opposed by Republicans and described by critics, such as civil rights attorney Devon Westhill, as an "industry that pushes a left-wing, far-left ideological orthodoxy in essentially every area of American life."

In 2024 alone, Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas and Utah either banned or limited the use of such teaching or use in the application process in their state's education system.

In January, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, signed legislation to prohibit institutions from engaging in "discriminatory practices" such as "that an individual, by virtue of the individual’s personal identity characteristics, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other individuals with the same personal identity characteristics." 

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The anti-DEI law also banned schools from having any policy, procedure, practice, program, office, initiative, or required training that is referred to or called "diversity, equity and inclusion."

In March, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama signed SB 129 into law. It prohibits certain DEI offices, as well as the "promotion, endorsement, and affirmation of certain divisive concepts in certain public settings."

The bill bans "divisive concepts," such as "that any individual should accept, acknowledge, affirm, or assent to a sense of guilt, complicity, or a need to apologize on the basis of his or her race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin" and "that meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist."

The legislation also required that restrooms be used on the basis of biological sex rather than gender identity, and that public institutions of higher education "authorize certain penalties for violation."

Also in March, Indiana adopted legislation to amend the duties of state educational institutions' diversity committees and increase "intellectual diversity." Additionally, the Indiana House introduced legislation to further prohibit DEI teachings in schools by mandating that educators "shall not promote in any course certain concepts related to race or sex."

BIDEN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT SPENT OVER $1 BILLION ON DEI GRANTS: REPORT

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, allowed legislation prohibiting postsecondary educational institutions from engaging in certain DEI-related actions to become law without her signature. The bill, passed in April, imposes a $10,000 fine on any public institution that employs DEI practices in faculty hiring or student enrollment processes.

"While I have concerns about this legislation, I don’t believe that the conduct targeted in this legislation occurs in our universities," Kelly wrote in her passage of the bill.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, another Republican, signed an education-funding bill in May that contained provisions to limit DEI in schools, just months after the state's board of education began to scale back on such practices in higher education.

The bill prohibits "any effort to promote, as the official position of the public institution of higher education, a particular, widely contested opinion referencing unconscious or implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology, microaggressions, group marginalization, antiracism, systemic oppression, social justice, intersectionality, nee-pronouns, heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial privilege, sexual privilege, or any related formulation of these concepts." 

Idaho became the latest state to determine that institutions may not "require specific structures or activities related to DEI."

In December, the Idaho Board of Education unanimously agreed on a resolution requiring that institutions "ensure that no central offices, policies, procedures, or initiatives are dedicated to DEI ideology" and "ensure that no employee or student is required to declare gender identity or preferred pronouns."

Other states, such as Florida, Texas and Tennessee, have all previously banned the practice of DEI in higher education.

A bewildered mom happened upon her infant son being attacked by a raccoon that had sneaked inside their Idaho home and successfully fended off the unlikely holiday visitor.

The mother called the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) and the Cassia County Sheriff’s Office Dec. 23 after she heard "a loud noise in the home" and discovered the raccoon attacking her baby boy, Idaho Fish and Game shared in a release.

Authorities said the mother managed to grab the furry intruder to save her son.

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The infant was taken to the Cassia Regional Hospital in Burley for undisclosed injuries before being transferred to a hospital in Salt Lake City.

According to officials, a sheriff’s deputy returned to the home with the baby's father, located the animal and killed it. 

IDFG noted it was unclear how the raccoon got inside the home and that there were no other raccoons inside.

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The animal's carcass has since been tested for rabies by the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories, and tests were negative, the release said.

"Once notified of the incident, staff from the Magic Valley Region activated their Wildlife Human Attack Response Team," the IDFG wrote. "This specially trained team of department staff has the responsibility to act to protect the safety of the public and incident responders; attempt to identify, locate, and control the animal(s) involved in a human-wildlife incident; and conduct, document and report investigative findings."

The agency noted that raccoon attacks on humans in the state are "extremely rare" and that there has only been one case of raccoon rabies documented in Idaho.

The IDFG instructed Idahoans to "never purposely feed a raccoon," saying they generally avoid humans unless they feel "threatened."

"As with all wildlife that can be found around homes in Idaho, the best course of action to avoid raccoon encounters is to take preventative actions before a problem starts," the department wrote. "Raccoons can live in a variety of habitats, but an area with access to water and food will attract them.

"A homeowner can limit food sources by securing residential garbage, removing any fallen fruit or rotten produce from your yard or garden, feeding pets indoors, keeping pet food securely stored, and removing or securing bird feeders," IDFG added. "Blocking raccoon access to hiding places in sheds and outbuildings and sealing off potential entryways and exits in and around a home will also discourage raccoon use."

Fox News Digital has reached out to the IDFG for comment.