Grief author mom Kouri Richins found guilty of murdering husband by poisoning his Moscow Mule

trial.
David Jackson/Pool/Park Record

A Utah jury found Kouri Richins guilty of murder and all other charges she faced in the 2022 death of her husband, Eric Richins, who died of a lethal dose of fentanyl.

The jury deliberated for about three hours after hearing closing arguments on Monday. In addition to aggravated murder, the eight-person panel convicted Kouri Richins of attempted aggravated murder for a failed attempt to kill her husband on Valentine’s Day, weeks before his death. She was also found guilty of forgery and two counts of insurance fraud related to Eric Richins’ life insurance coverage.

The mother of three – who published a children’s book on grief after her husband’s death – bowed her head when the guilty verdict was read aloud in court. She could be sentenced to life in prison without parole, the maximum penalty for the murder charge. Her sentencing is scheduled for May 13.

Over 13 days, prosecutors called more than 40 witnesses who testified about purported troubles in the Richins’ marriage, her affair with another man and the millions of dollars she owed in debt – all factors prosecutors argued motivated her to fatally poison her husband.

“She did not have the money to leave Eric or the money to salvage her business,” prosecutor Brad Bloodworth said in his closing argument Monday, painting the defendant as a striver focused on maintaining the facade of her success and affluence. “Kouri Richins is an intensely ambitious person. She is a risk-taker. There was a way forward – Eric had to die.”

Eric Richins was found dead in the couple’s home in Kamas, Utah, early in the morning on March 4, 2022. An autopsy revealed he had roughly five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system.

Summit County Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth presents the state’s closing argument in Kouri Richins’ murder trial on Monday.
David Jackson/Pool/Park Record

About a year after her husband’s fatal overdose, Kouri Richins published a children’s book to help their three sons cope with the grief of losing their father. Weeks after appearing on a local TV program to promote her book, she was arrested and charged with aggravated murder in connection to his death.

The defense rested its case last Thursday without calling any witnesses. Kouri Richins’ attorneys argued she was wrongfully blamed for her husband’s death after a sloppy and biased investigation.

“They cannot tell you how Eric ingested that fentanyl,” defense attorney Wendy Lewis said in her closing argument Monday. “They haven’t done their job, and now they want you to make inferences based on paper-thin evidence.”

After the verdict, one of Eric Richins’ sisters thanked everyone who “worked tirelessly to bring justice for Eric.”

“Our focus is now on honoring Eric’s life and supporting his boys, as we all continue to heal,” Amy Richins said outside the courthouse in Park City.

In a statement to CNN before the verdict was announced, Richins’ defense team said prosecutors had failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Over the past several weeks, the jury has had the opportunity to hear the full evidence – not the headlines, not the speculation, but the facts,” her attorneys said in the statement Monday.

“We believe in the jury system, and we trust the process. Kouri should finally be able to go home to her three young boys and begin rebuilding her life.”