In 3rd District Court Nov. 12, attorneys for Kouri Richins told Judge Richard Mrazik that she should be released because her circumstances have significantly changed, and she is not a danger to herself or others.
That was Mrazik’s concern when he first denied bail last summer.
He agreed at Nov. 12 hearing that some facts have changed. But in his opinion, she still presents a danger and, now, is also a flight risk.
“The court is not persuaded that there are reasonably available conditions of release to mitigate those two risks,” he ruled. “True, GPS-enabled ankle monitoring is available, but any report from those monitors comes days after the fact.”
The defense team had also argued it’s unreasonable to hold Richins for two years while she’s presumed innocent. Attorneys say she’s bettered herself in jail and is under emotional distress, especially being estranged from her children.
Mrazik said the fact that her relationship with her children and her businesses have both suffered means her ties to the community have unraveled. And that makes her more likely to run, according to the judge.
“I will tell you, Your Honor, as a mother, that there is no way Kouri Richins is leaving her children — no matter what they're being told, no matter what their situation is,” defense attorney Kathy Nester disagreed. “She will never leave her children's side under any circumstances, even to her own personal, grave detriment.”
Richins has been held in the Summit County jail since her arrest in May 2023.
Richins was originally charged with 11 felony counts, but last week, prosecutors petitioned the court to drop two counts of drug distribution. Mrazik agreed to the request Nov. 12.
She’s now facing a total of nine felony counts, including aggravated murder, attempted murder and financial crimes in connection with her husband Eric Richins’ March 2022 overdose death. Richins has pleaded not guilty to all charges, but if convicted, she could spend the rest of her life in prison.
Also at the hearing, Mrazik agreed to split some of the charges into multiple trials. Both mortgage fraud charges and two counts of forgery will be tried separately from murder.
“The court determines that the danger of the jury defaulting to a character-based or propensity-based inference - that the defendant [Richins] is a liar and a cheat so she must have committed more crimes in January through March of 2022 — is simply too high,” he said.
So the May 2025 trial will only involve attempted and aggravated murder, insurance fraud and one count of forgery.
When the defense asked for separate trials earlier this year, attorneys wanted Richins’ aggravated and attempted murder charges split up.
But Mrazik thinks they’re too similar and that one incident could show her intent during the other. That value supersedes the risk that it would prejudice jurors against her character.
Mrazik also settled another jury-related issue at the Nov. 12 hearing, agreeing to hold jury selection in-person, rather than through video hearings. He initially expressed concern about in-person hearings fearing they could jeopardize the anonymity of the jury pool.
Attorneys on both sides said they prefer the in-person option partly because they want to see how potential jurors respond to the extreme media coverage surrounding the case.
Jury selection is scheduled for the last week of April 2025, and jurors will be drawn from both Summit and Salt Lake counties. Richins’ next pretrial conference is in December.
