A Utah woman who poisoned her husband and then published a children’s book about dealing with grief is scheduled to appear in court Monday to begin a multiday hearing that will determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to proceed with a trial, authorities said.
Kouri Richins, 34, faces multiple felony charges for allegedly killing her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in a small mountain town near Park City in March 2022. Prosecutors say she laced a Moscow Mule cocktail consumed by Eric Richins, 39, with five times the lethal dose of the synthetic opioid.
An additional indictment filed in March accused her of trying to kill her husband with a drug-laced sandwich on Valentine’s Day. She has always maintained her innocence.
Utah District Judge Richard Mladzik postponed the trial in May because the prosecution said they needed three consecutive days to present evidence. The case was further delayed when Koori Richins’ private defense team withdrew from her defense. Mladzik determined that she could not continue to pay the costs of private defense and appointed public defenders Wendy Lewis and Kathy Nester to take over her case.
In the months leading up to her arrest in May 2023, the mother of three self-published a children’s book, “Are You with Me?”, which depicts a father with angel wings watching over his dead infant son. The book could play a key role for prosecutors in framing Eric Richins’ death as a planned murder with an elaborate cover-up. Prosecutors accuse Kouri Richins of making secret financial arrangements and buying illegal drugs as her husband grew suspicious of her.
Both the defense and prosecution plan to call witnesses and present evidence to present their versions of the case, and Judge Mladic is expected to rule after the hearing whether the state has presented enough evidence to proceed with a trial.
Among the witnesses who may be called are relatives of the defendant and her late husband, a housekeeper who they say sold drugs to Kouri Richins, and friends who recounted phone conversations they had on the day prosecutors say Eric Richins was first poisoned by his wife of nine years.
Skye Lazarus, Cooley Richins’ former lead attorney, had argued that the housekeeper had an incentive to lie in seeking lenient punishment on drug charges, and that Eric Richins’ sisters had clear bias against their client in a dispute over an inheritance and a concurrent assault case.
According to the complaint filed by her sister, Katie Richins, Kouri Richins had a financial motive to kill her husband, and prosecutors say she took out life insurance policies totaling about $2 million without her husband’s knowledge and mistakenly believed she would inherit his estate under the terms of a prenuptial agreement.
In May, Kouri Richins was convicted of a misdemeanor for assaulting another sister-in-law shortly after her husband’s death. Amy Richins told the judge that Kouri Richins had punched her in the face during an argument over access to her brother’s safe.
In addition to murder, assault and drug charges, Kouri Richins also faces mortgage fraud, forgery and insurance fraud charges for allegedly falsifying loan applications and filing fraudulent insurance claims after her husband’s death.
