Richins, a 35-year-old mother of three, is set to face a 12-person jury in Utah after prosecutors accused her of killing her husband, Eric Richins, in March 2022, according to court charging documents described by the Associated Press. The AP reported that the trial is scheduled to start Monday and run for a month in the small mountain community just outside Park City.
A central part of the case involves how prosecutors frame Richins’ public-facing actions after Eric Richins’ death. The AP said Richins promoted a children’s book she self-published in 2023—“Are You With Me?”—that she described as helping her sons cope with the sudden loss, and that she promoted the book on a local TV station. Prosecutors later charged her with murder weeks after the book’s publication, setting off shock waves in the town, the AP reported.
Prosecutors allege that Richins used fentanyl to kill her husband. They say Eric Richins died at the family home in March 2022 after drinking a cocktail, and they told the court that a medical examiner found five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system, according to the AP’s account of the police report and related material. The AP also reported that the charging documents describe the fentanyl as something Richins slipped into the drink.
The case also includes allegations of earlier attempts. The AP said that on Valentine’s Day, Eric Richins told friends he broke out in hives and blacked out after taking a bite of a sandwich Richins had left for him. The AP added that the charging documents allege Richins purchased fentanyl pills from the family’s housekeeper the same week as the sandwich. The AP further reported that after the Valentine’s Day incident, Eric Richins injected himself with his son’s EpiPen and took Benadryl, later waking and telling a friend, “I think my wife tried to poison me,” as described in that friend’s written testimony.
Richins’ alleged motive, according to charging documents summarized by the AP, centers on money and financial planning. The AP reported that prosecutors say Eric Richins met with a divorce attorney and an estate planner in October 2020, about a month after he discovered Richins made major financial decisions without his knowledge. Prosecutors also allege that Richins owed lenders more than $1.8 million, had a negative bank account balance, and was being sued by a creditor, the AP reported, and that they believed she mistakenly thought she would inherit Eric Richins’ estate under the prenuptial agreement.
The AP said prosecutors also alleged that Richins opened multiple life insurance policies on her husband without his knowledge, with benefits totaling nearly $2 million. The AP reported additional charges, including allegations of forging loan applications and fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after Eric Richins’ death. Richins faces nearly three dozen counts, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, forgery, mortgage fraud and insurance fraud, and she has pleaded not guilty, according to the AP.
The AP reported that the prosecution’s case will likely rely on testimony from key witnesses, including the housekeeper. The AP identified Carmen Lauber as a star witness in the case, saying that police were told Lauber gave Richins fentanyl pills that Lauber had bought from a dealer a couple of days before Valentine’s Day. The AP also reported that later that month, prosecutors allege Richins told Lauber the pills provided were not strong enough and asked her to procure stronger fentanyl, as described in charging documents.
Defense attorneys are expected to challenge that account. The AP reported that Richins’ lawyers—Wendy Lewis, Kathy Nester and Alex Ramos—are expected to argue that Lauber did not actually give Richins fentanyl and was motivated to lie to protect herself. The AP said Lauber is not charged in connection with the case, and that detectives previously testified at an earlier hearing that Lauber had been granted immunity.
In a statement attributed to Richins’ legal team, the AP reported the defense as saying, “Kouri has waited nearly three years for this moment: the opportunity to have the facts of this case heard by a jury, free from the prosecution’s narrative that has dominated headlines since her arrest,” and “What the public has been told bears little resemblance to the truth.” The AP said the defense expects the jury to rule in Richins’ favor after hearing her side of the story.