PARK CITY, Utah (KUTV) — Kouri Richins, the Utah mother found guilty of killing her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl, read a statement to her “sweet baby boys” during her sentencing hearing.

Richins was sentenced to life in prison without parole after she was found guilty of aggravated murder by a jury in March. Judge Richard Mrazik also imposed the full sentences for attempted murder, two counts of fraudulent insurance claims, and forgery.

Kouri Richins reads statement to three sons during sentencing hearing for husband's death

Mrazik said he took into consideration that Richins was convicted of attempting to murder her husband, Eric Richins, before “doubling down, preparing to try again and ultimately completing the act” for monetary gain.

MORE | Kouri Richins sentenced to life in prison without parole for aggravated murder of husband

In her statement, Richins told her children she had been trying to communicate with them for years, but that the communication had been stopped. She said she would “use any opportunity” to talk to her children, “even if that means sharing it publicly to the world, restrained, in my jail clothes, in one of the most horrible situations possible.”

“I don’t care,” she said. “And I’m not embarrassed or ashamed by any of it.”

Richins expressed that she wished to be in her children’s lives — to send them letters, to call, to visit — but that their caretakers, their aunt and uncle, prohibited her from doing so.

“You’re my reason for living,” she told them.

“I’m not perfect,” she said. “I have succeeded, and I have failed — as a person, as a wife, as a parent — we all do. I have done plenty of things I am not proud of. Some I regret, some I don’t. Some I’m ashamed of, and some I’m not.”

She said that she fell in love with someone who wasn’t their dad, and that their dad fell in love with someone who wasn’t her. She said they both did things behind each other’s backs, but advised her children against keeping secrets.

“Marriage is hard. Marriage takes work. Marriage takes love,” she said. “Big love. Deep love.”

She said that while she and Eric failed at some things, they never failed at loving their children.

She said that every day you wake up, you get a second chance at life.

“Take the day and run with it, it’s a blessing,” she said. “Don’t take it for granted.”

“There’s always going to be someone there to tear you down, misrepresent you, lie about you, tell half-truths, and judge you,” she continued. “But when people behave that way, it has much more to do with them personally than it does you. Remember who you are and what you stand for: the truth.”

She said that while you cannot change the past, you can take accountability when you mess up.

“Admit when you make a mistake, even when it’s embarrassing or humiliating. Even when it could ruin relationships, careers, or your integrity,” she warned. “But never apologize for something you didn’t do. Never admit to something you didn’t do. Never beg for mercy for something you didn’t do.”

“Be like your dad,” she told her boys through tears. “Be generous, be charitable, be humble, give when you have too much, give more than you take, help when others are in need, serve your community, be like your dad. Be like your dad. Be like your dad.”

She advised her children to love their family through the good and bad.

“Choose forgiveness, choose love, choose happiness,” she said.

She said that she, too, lost her father, and wondered what it would be like if he could see her grow up. She said she knows the lifetime of pain that that brings, the sadness and anger “I would never wish that upon anyone, especially you boys, my sweet babies,” she said.

“Murder, attempted murder … four years later, and it’s still hard for me to say those words out loud,” she said. “They get caught in my throat. They turn my stomach, and I try to avoid them as much as possible because it makes me physically sick to think about it.”

“Still, to this day, I can’t believe that this is real,” she said. “Convicted of taking one of the people in my life that filled it the most: my husband, the father of my children.”

She told her children that it is her job to protect them, and that she is sorry that eight people in a jury had the right to determine their future “in less than three hours.”

“In a perfect world, there might be justice, but in a perfect world, nothing ever goes wrong. Tragedies don’t happen,” she said.

“Some think this sentencing will be the answer they need but it won’t. It will only give them something else to think about for a while. This grief will outlive us all,” she added.

She said her boys lost both parents — one by an “unforeseen tragedy,” and one by “injustice.”

“I am broken. I am broken without your dad, I am broken without you boys,” she said. “God did not put me in this world to take a life. God put me in this world to give lives — your lives.”

“As much as you’ve been influenced into thinking that your dad was murdered, that I took your dad from you, that is completely wrong and an absolute lie,” she continued.

She said Eric would have never left them intentionally, and she would have never taken him from them.

“I will appeal and fight these charges, no matter how long it takes,” she warned. “I need you boys to know the truth, and because of that, I will never quit or give up on this fight for justice, the truth, or coming home to you.”

“I know that right now you may not believe me, that you believe I took dad from you — and that’s okay,” she concluded. “I still and will always love you, and I’m asking that you just please don’t give up on me. Not today, not this year, but we’re going to make this right.”