The so-called “Walk the Dog” letter is the latest flashpoint in the Kouri Richins murder case.
The Summit County Attorney’s Office says sheriff’s deputies found the letter folded in an LSAT prep book during a routine search of Kouri’s cell. Ostensibly written to her mother, it contained instructions for her brother and friends to tell defense counsel and the press that her late husband Eric Richins purchased opiates in Mexico.
To prosecutors, it was evidence of witness tampering, and they posted the letter on the public court docket, requesting Kouri be barred from speaking with her family.
Kouri’s attorneys fired back Oct. 11, saying the state engaged in “prosecutorial misconduct” by falsely and publicly accusing Kouri of witness tampering. Defense attorney Skye Lazaro says it's grounds to drop all of the charges against her client.
Kouri is charged with aggravated murder and three counts of drug possession with intent to distribute in Utah’s Third District Court.
Prosecutors say she poisoned her late husband Eric with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in 2022 before going on to write a book to help their three children grieve his death.
Kouri has since claimed the “Walk the Dog” letter wasn’t written for her mother or brother but was instead the beginning of another fictional book.
Her attorney maintains accusations of witness tampering are false. Furthermore, Lazaro says the state used inadmissible evidence to attempt to keep her from speaking with her family.
Lazaro argues the letter found in Kouri’s cell wasn’t filed properly with the court, and she says prosecutors can’t use a police statement as evidence that the letter was found “hidden in a book.”
Instead, the defense doubled down that it was in an envelope marked “attorney privilege.” In its Oct. 11 filings, the defense also said prosecutors later admitted the letter was “physically bound to notes from Ms. Richins to her counsel.”
According to Lazaro, the “Walk the Dog" letter doesn’t have any crease marks from being folded as prosecutors say it was.
The court had already decided to hear arguments over prosecutors’ motion for a no-contact order between Kouri and her family Nov. 3. It is not yet clear if the court will take up the new motion to dismiss all charges against her that same day.
Prosecutors want to wait to respond to calls for dismissal until after November’s hearing, when Judge Richard Mrazik may rule if the “Walk the Dog" letter is admissible or not.
If the court decides not to dismiss charges, Lazaro has suggested disqualifying the Summit County Attorney’s Office, moving the trial to Salt Lake County, pulling evidence related to the letter or instructing jurors to disregard witness tampering allegations.
