Kouri Richins found guilty of aggravated murder of her husband

Utah mother Kouri Richins has been found guilty of aggravated murder in the 2022 death of her husband, Eric Richins, who she was accused of giving five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in a drink.

Richins was found guilty on all counts of criminal homicide, aggravated murder, attempted criminal homicide, two counts of insurance fraud, and forgery.

She will be sentenced at 11:30 a.m. ET on May 13.

Kouri Richins would do anything to get what she wants, prosecutors argue

During closing arguments, prosecutor Brad Bloodworth repeatedly described Richins as “intensely ambitious,” arguing it revealed her motive for killing her husband.

“She wanted to leave Eric Richins, but did not want to leave his money,” he told jurors.

Bloodworth argued Richins wanted to maintain her affluent lifestyle and pursue a relationship with her lover, Josh Grossman, but her husband stood in the way.

“Kouri Richins had the means, illicit street drugs, the motive here — money and a fresh start of life — and the opportunity to kill Eric Richins. She was the only other adult in the home at the time,” Bloodworth said.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother of three who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death and was later accused of fatally poisoning him, looks on during a hearing on Aug. 26, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, Pool, File)
Prosecutors said Richins sought fentanyl by asking two people for the “Michael Jackson drug.”

“Richins was a suburban mother, real estate agent. She does not know a lot about the illicit street drug world, but she knows Michael Jackson died,” Bloodworth said.

Phone records showed contact with those individuals, though many communications were later deleted or missing, he added.

Bloodworth also argued Richins only later tried to blame her husband for the fentanyl.

“She knows that she bought fentanyl, and she has to explain it, and how does she explain it?” he said, noting she did not offer that explanation to paramedics, deputies or detectives at the time.

Prosecutors also pointed to internet searches about poisoning and prisons, and highlighted inconsistencies in Richins’ account of the night her husband died.

“When people make up stories, they are inconsistent in the retelling,” Bloodworth said.

Following her husband’s death, Richins published the children’s grief book “Are You with Me?” and promoted the book on local TV and radio stations, saying in interviews the book was meant to help her sons process the death of their father.

Defense says investigators fixated on Kouri Richins, ignored other evidence

The defense centered their argument on confirmation bias, saying that investigators favored evidence that supports their preconceived notion that Richins committed murder and ignored evidence that contradicts it.

“Summit County was only looking for evidence to confirm their theory, evidence to support that Kouri was behind Eric’s death. They did not want to look for evidence that contradicted that theory, had they done that test we might have our answer,” her attorney Wendy Lewis said.

Lewis argued the state’s case relies on speculation rather than proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

“They’re throwing around a lot of theories. Why is that? Because they don’t have one,” she said.

She also claimed the investigation was driven by the Richins family and criticized lead investigator Jeff O’Driscoll for failing to explain key gaps in the evidence.

Lewis told jurors there is reasonable doubt about how fentanyl entered Eric Richins’s system and said investigators did not fully pursue alternative explanations.

She further argued jurors should not convict Richins based on how she grieved.

“The state wants you to look at a woman in the worst moment of her life and judge her grief… they’re asking you to judge how she is acting at that moment and use that as evidence of guilt,” Lewis said.

“They don’t have the evidence that Kouri Richins killed her husband so instead they have tried to show you as much evidence as they possibly can to convince you she’s the sort of person who would.”

Lewis said Richins’ internet searches reflected fear, arguing she made them because she was “terrified” despite knowing she was innocent.

During the trial, the defense has pointed to Richins’ husband’s alleged drug dependency as the cause of his overdose.

The trial, which was expected to span five weeks, was cut short in after three weeks after defense attorneys rested the case without calling witnesses. Richins also waived her right to testify.

Kouri Richins asks for a mistrial

Richins’ defense moved for a mistrial, arguing prosecutor Brad Bloodworth made improper remarks during closing arguments.

Defense attorney Kathryn Nester said he dehumanized Richins by calling her a “black widow” and a narcissist without supporting evidence, improperly referenced her courtroom demeanor and speculated about her thoughts.

The defense also said Bloodworth wrongly told jurors any illicit drug could support aggravated murder.

Bloodworth cited testimony from Richins’ former friend Chelsea Barney, who previously referred to her as a “black widow” in a phone record.

Judge Richard Mrazik  denied the mistrial motion, ruling the prosecutor’s comments were permissible for closing statements, adding that the “black widow” reference stemmed from witness testimony, and any concerns about remarks on Richins’ demeanor would be addressed with a jury instruction.

Kouri Richins poisoned husband for his millions because she’s an ‘incompetent’ businesswoman, prosecutors say: ‘Eric had to die’

Kouri Richins, the Utah mom who killed her husband and then penned a children’s book about their kids’ grief, offed her hubby because she was an egotistical social climber who wanted to get out of debt, prosecutors said in blistering closing arguments Monday.

“There was a way forward’’ for the conniving wannabe socialite, prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told jurors.

“Eric had to die.”

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Kouri Richins fatally poisoned husband Eric because she needed money to boost her image and to run away with her illicit lover, prosecutors said.Kouri Richins/Facebook

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Richins appears at ease in court during closing arguments Monday.AP

But Richins’ lawyers countered in their own closings that the “sloppy’’ police investigation into their client was riddled with bias, speculation and conjecture.

The defense said prosecutors were asking jurors to convict the 35-year-old mom of three simply because she was “not grieving properly.”

Bloodworth kicked off the dueling summations by calling Richins “intensely ambitious” but also “unhappy” in her marriage to Eric Richins, with whom she shared three young sons,

Her home-flipping business was $4.5 million in debt because she was so “incompetent,’’ and she wanted to bail herself out with Eric’s $4 million estate and run away with her handyman lover, Bloodworth said.

Kouri, who lived with her husband and kids in Kamas, a suburb of wealthy ski town Park City, is accused of slipping fentanyl into Eric’s Moscow Mule cocktail March 4, 2022, killing him.

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Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth presents closing arguments Monday.AP
She wrote a kids book titled, “Are You With Me?” a year later supposedly to help their sons process their loss and promoted it on TV and radio.

“She wanted to leave Eric Richins but did not want to leave his money,” Bloodworth told jurors.

“Their prenup meant if she left him, she would also leave most of his money.”

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Lisa Darden, Kouri’s mother, listens in court Monday.AP
The prosecutor explained that Kouri felt “aggrieved” because of her troubled upbringing — with her drunken dad landing in jail and her hard-gambling mom spending her time in casinos.

Richens also felt insecure about her social standing because of her former time as a housecleaner for rich people.

So she “carefully curated the facade of a privileged, affluent, successful business owner,” Bloodworth argued.

But “behind the facade, Kouri Richins was incompetent,” the prosecutor alleged. “She took tremendous risks.

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Kouri couldn’t stand that she was a failed businesswoman, the prosecutor said.AP
“She borrowed money by any means necessary at exorbitant rates. She gambled other people’s money and lost. Her business was imploding.

“She was a risk taker,” Bloodworth said — and she gambled on killing her husband to dig herself out of her hole.

But defense lawyer Wendy Lewis argued that the case had reasonable doubt written all over, it in part due to a shoddy investigation where authorities failed to look for any evidence “that might show her innocence.”

“The investigation in this matter was nothing but sloppy,” Lewis said. “It was driven by bias. Speculation, conjecture — not proof.

“Every fact that the state has put forward … has another reasonable explanation,” the lawyer said.

The jury began deliberating around 3 p.m. Monday.

Kouri has been on trial for the past three weeks on charges of aggravated murder and related crimes for which she faces up to 25 years behind bars.

She’s pleaded not guilty.