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Just outside Park City, Utah, Monday, 3rd District Judge Richard Mrazik read the verdict before the friends and family of Kouri Richins and of her late husband, as well as members of the press.
Kouri Richins had faced five charges in total and was found guilty on all of them.
Eight Summit County jurors, six men and two women, convicted her of the March 2022 murder of her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl.
They found her guilty of attempted murder, having tried to poison him weeks before that on Valentine’s Day.
She was also convicted of forgery and two counts of insurance fraud stemming from a life insurance policy she took out on her husband’s life without his knowledge and then cashed after his murder.
The case has garnered widespread media attention since Richins published and promoted a children’s book about grieving a parent’s death in the month before her May 2023 arrest.
She maintained her innocence and had been held at the Summit County jail ever since. Now she faces 25 years to life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for May 13.
Over the past three weeks, Summit County prosecutors put 42 witnesses on the stand to build their case against her.
Richins’ attorneys did not mount a defense case but did say repeatedly that prosecutors could not prove how Richins administered the fatal fentanyl to her husband.
Defense attorney Wendy Lewis reiterated that during Monday’s closing arguments, and she called Summit County’s investigation “sloppy” and “driven by bias.”
“Everything about this investigation was led by [Eric Richins’] family. They started on day one, and they continued until trial,” the defense attorney said. “They are the ones who initially hired and paid for experts. Their private investigator gave information to the police.”
One of the alternatives the defense says should've been investigated was related to a hydrocodone prescription dating back to 2016 found in Eric Richins' bedside table the night he died. Crime scene photos appeared to show it contained residue, but it was never tested.
In his closing, Summit County's chief prosecutor Brad Bloodworth asked the jury for a conviction.
He portrayed Kouri Richins as an incompetent businesswoman who lied to first cover up debt, and later hide a murder she committed in large part because of that debt.
“Kouri Richins clings to the facade that has enabled her to get away with so much for so long. And despite all the evidence, Kouri Richins doubles down and blames Eric. She is intensely ambitious. See through her facade, check her ambition,” he said to the jurors. “Do not let her get away with murder.”
The murder trial, originally scheduled to last until March 27, wrapped up more than a week early.
While Richins waits for sentencing in the murder case, she still faces 26 felonies in another case prosecutors filed last June. The charges represent the full scope of her alleged financial misdeeds.
It’s unclear whether prosecutors still plan to pursue that case.
Utah State Courts communications director Tania Mashburn said neither side would comment directly after the verdict Monday.
And in civil court, Richins is litigating property issues with Eric Richins’ family. The family is pursuing claims against her under the “slayer statute” in Utah law which says it’s illegal to inherit property from the person they killed.
