"She wanted to leave Eric Richins, but she did not want to leave his money," Summit County chief prosecutor Brad Bloodworth said in his closing argument on Monday. Prosecutors alleged that Kouri Richins spiked Eric Richins' cocktail with fentanyl in March 2022, after several earlier attempts, because she was millions of dollars in debt and believed she would inherit his estate."
"It was a really good distraction from this last year and going through the first holidays without my husband, his birthday, like our anniversary, all these things, and it gave us something to work towards," Richins told NPR member station KPCW in April 2023 about writing a children's book on grief, months before being charged with her husband's murder."
"Her defense attorney, Wendy Lewis, said Eric had Lyme disease and was addicted to painkillers, and called the investigation into his death "nothing but sloppy" and "driven by bias." Kouri Richins has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the five charges against her in this case."
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother of three, was convicted of murdering her husband Eric Richins in March 2022 by spiking his cocktail with fentanyl. Prosecutors established that Richins was deeply in debt and believed she would inherit Eric's substantial estate, unaware that he had removed her from his will years earlier. She had also taken out multiple life insurance policies on her husband while conducting an affair. The conviction came after a three-week trial featuring 40 witnesses. Richins maintained her innocence and did not testify, with her defense arguing Eric had Lyme disease and painkiller addiction. The jury deliberated for three hours before finding her guilty of aggravated murder, carrying a sentence of 25 years to life.
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