Court records show 3rd District Court Judge Richard Mrazik appointed Salt Lake City attorneys Kathy Nester and Wendy Lewis as Richins’ “indigent counsel” during a hearing May 23.
Criminal defendants are appointed public defenders if they can prove to a judge they don’t have the financial means to pay for their own defense. That's because county governments cover the cost of indigent defense.
Defendants must also be facing jail or prison time to qualify.
Mrazik’s appointment of Nester and Lewis comes days after the law firm that had represented Richins for more than a year withdrew from her case, citing “an irreconcilable and nonwaivable situation.”
A mother of three who wrote a children’s book about grief after her husband Eric Richins’ death, Richins is facing a total of 11 felonies, including an aggravated murder charge in connection with her husband’s March 2022 overdose death.
Summit County prosecutors contend the former real estate agent poisoned her husband with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl for financial gain and to escape the marriage.
She and her family have maintained her innocence while she’s been in the Summit County jail without bond for over a year.
Prosecutors will have a chance to weigh in on Mzarik’s proposed appointment of Lewis and Nester at a hearing set for May 24 at noon.
Nester was the Federal Public Defender for the District of Utah from 2011 to 2018, and Lewis worked for her as an assistant federal public defender. They formed a criminal defense practice together in 2022, according to their website.
Richins’ mother Lisa Darden previously told KPCW the issue with her daughters’ previous attorneys was related to conflicts of interests, not their ability to pay.
Also May 22, Mrazik said he is temporarily prohibiting Richins from media interviews until she has new lawyers, to preserve her right not to self-incriminate.
