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Kouri Richins was convicted Monday of aggravated murder in the fentanyl poisoning death of her husband, Eric Richins, prosecutors said in closing argument and throughout the trial, culminating in a verdict read in court as Richins stared at the floor. The jury found her guilty after prosecutors argued she intentionally caused her husband’s death in March 2022 by putting fentanyl into a drink he consumed at their home outside the affluent ski town of Park City, Utah.
Prosecutors said Richins acted despite, they said, a financial motive that included being $4.5 million in debt and allegedly believing she would inherit Eric Richins’ estate worth more than $4 million. Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told the jury, “She wanted to leave Eric Richins but did not want to leave his money,” as he described how the case was built around the timing and alleged intent surrounding her husband’s death.
The jury deliberated for just under three hours, after which family members from both sides of the case left the courtroom hugging and crying. Afterward, Eric Richins’ sister, Amy Richins, said she and other relatives were “all in shock,” adding, “It’s been a long time coming.” She also said the family could now “focus on honoring her brother and supporting his sons,” telling reporters, “Just very happy that we got justice for my brother.” Relatives of Kouri Richins left the courthouse without speaking to media.
The convictions went beyond the aggravated murder count. Jurors also found Richins guilty of other felonies, including attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Valentine’s Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich that made him black out. The verdict also included forgery and fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after Eric Richins’ death.
Richins’ trial ended early after she waived her right to testify, and her legal team “abruptly rested its case” without calling any witnesses, according to the reporting. Her attorneys argued prosecutors did not present enough evidence over the three weeks of trial to convict her of murder. Sentencing was scheduled for May 13, the day her husband would have turned 44, and the aggravated murder charge alone carries 25 years to life in prison.
Prosecutors told jurors Richins opened multiple life insurance policies on her husband without his knowledge, with benefits totaling about $2 million, and they presented evidence they said supported the theory that she planned a future with another man. They said she also faces 26 other money-related criminal charges in a separate case that has not yet gone to trial. Earlier Monday, prosecutors showed the jury text messages between Richins and Robert Josh Grossman, which prosecutors said showed Richins fantasized about leaving her husband, gaining millions in a divorce, and marrying Grossman.
The case included forensic and courtroom evidence aimed at linking Richins to fentanyl access and use. Prosecutors presented testimony that Richins’ internet search history included “what is a lethal.dose.of.fetanayl,” along with searches referencing prison conditions and how poisoning would show up on a death certificate. Prosecutors also played for jurors a clip of Richins’ 911 call from the night her husband died, which Bloodworth framed as “not ‘the sound of a wife becoming a widow,’” quoting the defense’s opening statement, and saying, “It’s the sound of a wife becoming a black widow.”
Defense attorney Wendy Lewis responded that the prosecution “looks at facts one way and sees a witch, but if you look at those facts another way, you see a widow.” The defense also focused on discrediting what it described as the prosecution’s star witness, Carmen Lauber, a housekeeper who prosecutors said sold Richins fentanyl on multiple occasions. Lewis argued Lauber did not deal fentanyl and was motivated to lie for legal protection, while prosecutors pointed to changes in Lauber’s statements after she was informed of Eric Richins’ death by fentanyl overdose, according to the reporting.
Richins’ legal team also attacked the circumstances of Lauber’s involvement, including her participation in a drug court program. Prosecutors said Lauber was already in that program when authorities arrested her in connection with the Richins case and that she had violated some conditions of drug court. The defense showed a video of law enforcement warning Lauber that they could pull her drug court deal and that she could face a lengthy prison sentence. A person in that video asked, “Give us the details that will ensure Kouri gets convicted’ of murder,” and prosecutors described Lauber as having been granted immunity for her cooperation.
In addition to testimony and evidentiary disputes, prosecutors drew on evidence that Richins self-published and promoted a children’s book shortly before her arrest. They said Richins published “Are You with Me?” about coping with the loss of a parent in May 2023, and prosecutors pointed to her promotion of the book on local television and radio stations as part of the case’s account of planning and cover-up. Summit County Sheriff’s detective Jeff O’Driscoll, the lead investigator on the case, testified that Richins paid a ghostwriting company to write the book for her.
Prosecutors also described evidence they said tied the book and other materials to Richins’ intent. O’Driscoll testified that shortly after Richins’ arrest, her mother sent the book to the sheriff’s office in an anonymous package with a note saying it exemplified Richins as the “true Kouri, a devoted wife and adoring mother.” Prosecutors presented excerpts of a letter found in Richins’ jail cell that they said appeared to outline testimony for her mother and brother, and they quoted language in which Richins instructed her brother to tell her former attorney that Eric Richins confided about getting fentanyl from Mexico and “gets high every night.” The defense said the letter contained a fictional story Richins was working on and argued that Eric Richins was addicted to painkillers and asked his wife to procure opioids for him, while Richins told police on the night of her husband’s death that he had no history of illicit drug use, according to body camera footage shown in court.