A Utah mother who published a children's book about grief after the sudden death of her husband has been found guilty of his murder.
A jury found that Kouri Richins killed her husband in March 2022 by poisoning him with a fentanyl-laced drink. The jury deliberated the case for about three hours before reaching its verdict on Monday.
During the trial, the court heard how Richins, 35, had racked up millions of dollars in debt, had taken out life insurance policies on her husband, and was having an extramarital affair.
Prosecutors called more than 40 witnesses, including the woman who said she sold the drugs used to kill Eric Richins.
Her defence team chose to not call any witnesses, and rested their case without having her take the stand to testify in her own defence.
Richins was also found guilty of fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after her husband's death at their home outside the ski resort town of Park City. Prosecutors said during the trial that she falsely believed she would inherit his estate worth more than $4 million after he died.
They also said she was planning a future with another man with whom she had been having an affair.
Officials indicated that Richins attempted to poison her husband in an earlier incident, nearly resulting in his death, before later increasing the dosage until he died. She was also found guilty of attempted murder over this incident.
Richins pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The most serious, aggravated murder, carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
The prosecution argued, She wanted to leave Eric Richins but did not want to leave his money, said Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth.
Richins was arrested in March 2023 - two months after she published the picture book 'Are You With Me?', which she claimed was designed to help people cope with the death of a loved one.
She dedicated the book to her husband, referring to him as my amazing husband and a wonderful father.
Between December 2021 and February 2022, Kouri Richins texted a person who had previously been arrested on drug charges asking for prescription pain medication. She later requested something stronger, targeting fentanyl directly.
The sequence of events culminated in a Valentine's Day dinner where her husband fell ill, revealing that he believed he had been poisoned. Ultimately, he died from a fentanyl overdose, having five times the lethal dosage in his system.
