Kouri Richins’ attorney Wendy Lewis surprised a Summit County courtroom Thursday when she said the defense wouldn’t call any more witnesses or present more evidence.
“Your Honor, after consulting with our client, the defense rests,” Lewis announced.
Richins did not testify during the trial.
She is charged with aggravated murder, attempted murder and financial crimes in connection with her husband Eric Richins’ fatal fentanyl overdose in 2022.
Kouri Richins has pleaded not guilty.
Summit County prosecutors called 42 individual witnesses over 2.5 weeks and ended their case Thursday.
The defense then asked 3rd District Judge Richard Mrazik to acquit Richins of all five charges. Defense attorney Alexander Ramos said that’s because prosecutors hadn’t produced enough evidence.
Mrazik denied the request. If there’s any evidence of guilt, “however slight,” he said he must submit it to the jury.
“The court is not free to weigh the evidence and thus invade the province of the jury, whose prerogative it is to judge the facts,” Mrazik ruled.
The defense conferred during the lunch break before it decided to rest its case.
That means the jury of Summit County residents, including eight primary jurors and four alternates, will soon begin deliberations.
Closing arguments are expected to begin Monday.
Debate before final witness testimony
Thursday’s events unfolded after what was already a tense morning.
The state’s final witness Det. Jeff O’Driscoll was going to take the stand. But before he did, and before the jury entered the courtroom, defense attorney Kathy Nester proposed introducing the idea of an inadequate investigation.
She wanted to question the detective about a man named David Norris, who the defense initially wanted to call as a witness.
“[Norris] would testify, if called, that on an occasion in 2019, I believe, in 2019 he had an encounter with Eric Richins, where Eric Richins asked him if he had any fentanyl,” Nester said.
Norris allegedly told Summit County law enforcement about his information, but chief prosecutor Brad Bloodworth didn’t think he was credible.
Bloodworth said Norris called the sheriff’s office after Mrazik ruled his testimony would be hearsay and not admissible.
“Deputies interviewed him, and he said he was calling on behalf of — or he was calling because defense counsel told him he should call,” Bloodworth told the judge.
At first, Mrazik was inclined to stand on his prior ruling.
“If a crank from New Jersey … called the Summit County Sheriff's Office, and said, ‘I was in Utah on that day, and I saw it happen,’ and the Summit County Sheriff's Office chose not to investigate it, would we be having this conversation?” Mrazik said to the defense.
But after a quick break, he returned with precedent from a 2009 Ogden murder case that indicated that O’Driscoll could be questioned about Norris’ claims.
There was a catch. The judge had ruled some of the state’s evidence was inadmissible for similar reasons.
And out of fairness, that would need to come in too, and Bloodworth said it would further implicate Kouri Richins.
“Ms. Lewis, Ms. Nester, Mr. Ramos,” Mrazik said. “This is high-stakes poker.”
The defense team conferred for half an hour and ultimately decided not to ask O’Driscoll about Norris.
Because both sides have now rested their cases, the jury won’t hear about Norris’ allegations before it decides on a verdict.
