The jury is now deliberating in the murder trial of Kamas-area mom Kouri Richins who is accused of killing her husband with fentanyl in 2022.
Attorneys made closing arguments Monday and the case went to the jury just before 3 p.m.
She has pleaded not guilty to aggravated and attempted murder, forgery and insurance fraud in connection with Eric Richins’ fatal overdose.
Chief prosecutor Brad Bloodworth argued Monday she did it out of “financial desperation” and because she was “chronically unhappy” in her marriage.
His 2-hour closing remarks focused first on the alleged murder and then the parallels between that and the attempted murder charges Richins is facing.
Bloodworth said, in both cases, Kouri Richins engaged in a “cover-up.” But she says she’s innocent.
Her attorney Wendy Lewis made closing arguments for the defense.
She called Summit County’s investigation “sloppy” and “driven by bias.” According to Lewis, Eric Richins’ family drove the initial investigation by hiring a private investigator and some of the experts who would go on to testify for the state at trial.
And Lewis raised unanswered questions, such as what evidence in the family home the night of Eric Richins’ was never tested. For one, the defense says investigators never tested an empty hydrocodone bottle with residue found in his bedside table.
Lewis tried to offer alternative explanations for a host of other suspicious actions and circumstances the state attributed to Kouri Richins.
Over the past three weeks, Summit County prosecutors put 42 witnesses on the stand to build their case. Richins’ attorneys did not mount a defense case.
They have motioned for a mistrial four times, including once on Monday. All the mistrial requests have either been denied or withdrawn.
The jury has gone into deliberation. They could choose to continue into the evening or they may decide to end for the day and return Tuesday morning.
This is a developing story.
