Prosecutors say Kouri Richins poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, with a fatal amount of fentanyl in 2022. She’s pleaded not guilty.
Speaking to motive Tuesday, the state took the jury back to 2019 when Kouri Richins started K Richins Realty.
K Richins Realty was a house-flipping business. Forensic accountant Brooke Karrington testified that some of its startup money came from a home equity line of credit secured by the Richins home in Francis.
“She used that HELOC, draws from the HELOC, to fund the projects, the rehab expenses, until it was no longer available because it was maxed out,” Karrington said.
Kouri Richins allegedly took out the $250,000 HELOC using her husband’s power of attorney without his knowledge.
The loan put their home in Francis on the line, since the Richins family would lose it if they couldn’t pay off the line of credit.
Eric Richins’ brother-in-law Clint Benson testified that he was surprised to discover the line of credit in Summit County property records. He said Eric Richins was “very upset” and “sad” when he told him.
“We had a discussion about divorce attorneys while he was there, as a result of finding out about that line of credit,” Benson said.
Benson said he became the go-between for Eric Richins and a divorce attorney, since Eric Richins believed his wife was able to see his emails.
Eric Richins didn’t file for divorce. He was referred to another attorney who could help him create the trust to provide for his and Kouri Richins’ three kids.
“I recommended Christina Miller as the divorce attorney. She recommended Kristal Bowman[-Carter] to manage and write Eric's trust,” Benson said.
And Eric Richins’ sister, Katie Richins-Benson, would be the trustee. The trust would put her in charge of his assets upon his death.
Allison Wright, the wife of Eric Richins’ business partner, testified that Kouri Richins didn’t think she’d benefit financially from divorce.
Wright and Kouri Richins had a conversation on a vacation in 2019, when the defense says Eric Richins may have been having an affair with an employee.
“A word I remember is that she [Kouri Richins] felt ‘trapped,’” Wright testified. “At this time, I learned that their marriage had a prenuptial agreement.”
According to Karrington, the accountant, K Richins Realty grew exponentially between 2019 and 2022.
In 2020, Robert Josh Grossmann moved from South Carolina to Utah and began a relationship with Kouri Richins, who was still married. The two met years before when Richins was flipping a house in South Carolina.
Grossmann testified Wednesday that Kouri Richins let him live in homes she bought while he worked on them.
Karrington said Richins was buying more houses and accumulating more debt leading up to 2022.
“You don't really need to know much else, but to see the growth from five projects to 15 from one year to the next, or $2.2 million to $6.7 million [in purchases] in one year, that presents a challenge for anybody,” she said.
From January 2021 to March 2022, Kouri Richins allegedly attempted 236 overdraft transactions, amounting to more than $300,000. The account incurred almost $6,000 in fees from rejected transactions.
Karrington testified that she was floating checks to pay off debt.
“As of the date that Eric Richins died, Kouri Richins was in financial distress, and her financial enterprise was collapsing, had been collapsing, and but for a significant infusion of cash and capital, would have continued to collapse,” Karrington said. “It was imploding.”
Prosecutors have previously said Kouri Richins didn’t know her husband had created a trust and put his sister in charge of his estate until the day after his death.
Kouri Richins was convicted of assaulting Richins-Benson, her sister-in-law, on that day — after Richins-Benson allegedly told her about the trust.
The assault is not allowed as evidence in the murder trial since the judge ruled it could cause unfair prejudice against Kouri Richins.
On Wednesday, the Richins family estate attorney Kristal Bowman-Carter testified about a phone call she received from a Summit County sheriff’s deputy March 5, 2022.
The deputy put her on the phone with Kouri Richins, and Bowman-Carter explained the trust to her.
“She was livid. She was upset. And she said, ‘What is wrong with you people?’ and handed the phone back to the officer,” Bowman-Carter said.
Kouri Richins’ attorneys dispute that that was when she learned about Eric Richins’ trust.
Despite not directly benefiting from the trust, Kouri Richins did receive $1.4 million in life insurance upon her husband’s death.
Karrington testified about $600,000 of that paid off some of her debts and $25,000 went to Grossmann.
During cross-examination, the defense focused on some of the money Karrington herself received.
Initially, she was hired by an attorney for Eric Richins’ family, since the family is litigating the trust and estate issues with Kouri Richins. The attorney paid Karrington $14,000, she said.
More than a year later, Karrington was engaged by Summit County prosecutors. She testified the county has paid her about $200,000 for her services in the murder trial.
Defense attorneys asked Bowman-Carter how much Eric Richins’ family paid her. She said she waived her fees.
The Kouri Richins murder trial is scheduled to last five weeks until March 27.
