One by one, residents from across Summit County popped up on a 3rd District Court video screen Feb. 10 for the first day of jury selection as Kouri Richins heads to trial for murder.
Attorneys are interviewing locals to fill a jury that will decide Richins’ fate. She has pleaded not guilty.
The Kamas Valley mother and former real estate agent is charged with murder in connection with the fentanyl overdose death of her husband Eric Richins almost four years ago. She wrote a children’s book about grief before being charged.
The case has garnered state, national and international media attention, so much so that jury selection began with a debate about closing the process to the public.
Attorneys representing Utah’s Fox 13 news argued to keep the proceeding open while allowing jurors the chance to speak to the prosecutors, defense and judge in private.
The logistics of that are complicated by the fact that jury selection is now conducted through video conferencing and not in person.
Judge Richard Mrazik agreed to keep the courtroom open to the public but said he would clear it if jurors felt like they needed to speak about sensitive matters in private.
The questioning is meant to determine whether a prospective juror can be unbiased during the upcoming five-week murder trial.
Questions are typically follow-ups based on each person’s responses to a written jury questionnaire. Jurors were asked about personal circumstances similar to issues that will be discussed at trial.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys went back and forth with questions, before asking Mrazik to excuse or keep someone in the pool based on their answers.
The prosecution asked many questions about potential jurors’ attitudes toward law enforcement. Richins’ attorneys asked about interest in true crime content and what potential jurors had seen in the media about the case.
Jury selection is scheduled until Feb. 18 or attorneys have enough people to seat eight jurors and four alternates.
Kouri Richins’s trial for murder is scheduled from Feb. 23 to March 26.
