Convicted killer Chad Daybell was sentenced to death Saturday for the grisly slayings of his first wife and the two youngest children of his second wife, imprisoned-for-life "Doomsday Mom" Lori Vallow Daybell.
Daybell, 55, sat with his hands in his lap and showed no reaction as Judge Steven Boyce announced the jury's unanimous decision in Boise, Idaho, the Associated Press reported.
The punishment came two days after the self-published author of doomsday fiction loosely based on Mormon teachings was convicted of conspiracy, first-degree murder and related crimes in the killings of 49-year-old Tammy Daybell, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow.
Prosecutors alleged that Chad Daybell was motivated by a "desire for sex, money and power."
During the penalty phase of his trial, relatives of the victims made emotional statements, with JJ's grandmother, Kay Woodcock tearfully describing how the boy would often softly touch others and ask if they were OK.
"I can't express just how much I wish for more time to create memories," Woodcock said as she began weeping.
Vallow Daybell's oldest child, Colby Ryan, also told jurors that it was "like a nuclear bomb dropping" when his siblings were killed three years after his father died.
"My three kids will never know the kindness of Tylee's heart or JJ's silly and goofy personality," he said. "It's not an overstatement to say that I lost everything."
Chad Daybell didn't testify during either the evidence or penalty phase of his trial, CBS News said.
Lori Vallow Daybell, 50, was sentenced last year to life in prison without parole for murdering her two youngest kids and conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, who was found dead of asphyxiation in her home in October 2019.
The children disappeared a month earlier and their remains were found buried in Chad Daybell's yard the following summer.
Lori Vallow Daybell told a friend she believed they'd been possessed by evil spirits and turned into "zombies."
Both she and Chad Daybell, her fifth husband, tried to blame all three killings on Lori Vallow Daybell's brother, Alex Cox, who died in late 2019.
Lori Vallow Daybell still faces trial in Arizona over the fatal shooting of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, who was JJ's father.
