Kouri Richins faces five felonies in connection with the March 2022 overdose death of her husband Eric Richins.
The first week of her five-week trial focused on the most serious: aggravated murder.
The Richins family housekeeper, Carmen Lauber, testified she sold Kouri Richins what she believed to be fentanyl shortly before Eric Richins overdosed in 2022.
But defense attorney Wendy Lewis portrayed Lauber as simply seeking immunity for herself and pointed out inconsistencies between her testimony at trial and what she told investigators in 2023.
“You didn't remember in 2023 what happened in 2022, and you don't now remember what happened in 2022, right?” Lewis asked.
“Yes and no,” Lauber responded.
Lewis’ lengthy cross examination of Lauber filled Thursday afternoon and early Friday morning. Chief prosecutor Brad Bloodworth said that the various dates, drug deals and past interviews with investigators got confusing for the witness.
“It is clear that she is being credible,” he said. “While she may be confused, she is not untruthful.”
At the end of the week, the man prosecutors believe was the original source of the fentanyl took the stand. Robert Crozier previously corroborated Lauber’s account but has since recanted.
He testified he sold her oxycodone, not fentanyl.
“It is fair to summarize your testimony today that you sold Carmen Lauber, on at least one, maybe two occasions, M30s and ‘blues,’ and you believe that M30s and ‘blues’ referred to — at that time [2022] — oxycodone?” Bloodworth asked, to which Crozier agreed.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys have been using the first week of testimony in the highly publicized trial to build competing narratives.
The medical examiner and the toxicologist involved in Eric Richins’ autopsy testified about the elevated levels of fentanyl in his system, which was ruled as his cause of death.
That led to the lengthy testimony in which prosecutors tried to draw a throughline from Crozier to Lauber to Kouri Richins.
Both sides have also honed in on the numerous edible marijuana gummies found around the Richins home in Francis, Utah, during searches in the year after Eric Richins’ death.
Prosecutors showed body camera video of Kouri Richins suggesting he took a THC edible gummy that night before going to bed on March 3, 2022.
No one has so far claimed any edibles tested positive for fentanyl.
An unanswered question for the defense after week No. 1 is an empty hydrocodone bottle a first responder said he found in Eric Richins’ bedside drawer. It was prescribed to Eric Richins in 2016, and defense attorney Kathy Nester said it never was tested.
Finally, after dismissing the jury for the weekend, 3rd District Judge Richard Mrazik briefly mentioned there was a motion for a mistrial some time during the first week but did not share any more information. He only said he denied it.
