Richins, a Utah children’s book author, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday by Judge Richard Mrazik after a jury found her guilty in March of killing her husband, Eric Richins, in a case prosecutors have described as involving fentanyl poisoning. In a memo submitted ahead of the sentencing hearing, her three sons said they feared what would happen if their mother were released from prison.
The boys’ statements focused on safety and the possibility of contact if she were freed. The oldest son, who was 13 at the time the memo was filed, told the court he does not miss his mother and said, “I’m afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family,” according to the memo. He said he believes she “would come and take us and not do good things to us, like hurt us.”
Prosecutors’ filing sought a harsher sentence and argued the boys should not be exposed to Richins if she is released. The youngest son, whose current age was not included in the memo, said he felt “hateful and ashamed” when people talked about his mother and that “she took away my dad.” The memo included his statement that he would be “so scared” if Richins got out, and it quoted him saying, “Once she is gone I will feel happy and I will feel safer and relaxed and trust people more.”
The memo also included statements from the middle child, now 11, who prosecutors said had been 9, 7 and 5 when his father died. The boy, according to prosecutors’ description, refuted Richins’ account of the night of the killing, including Richins’ claim that she slept in his bedroom. Prosecutors said he recalled being put to bed early without a bath, that his parents’ bedroom was locked, and that the television was blaring from inside, and that he used a broom to try to reach a key.
In addition to the children’s statements, prosecutors said they supported their request for life without parole with findings from the Utah Division of Child and Family Services contained in a sealed court document. The agency’s spokesperson, Josh Loftin, said he could not comment on the allegations because most records concerning minors are heavily protected. Prosecutors also said Richins’ conduct included emotional and physical abuse of the children, an allegation reflected in the memo.
The case prosecutors presented at trial included fentanyl poisoning and insurance-related conduct. Prosecutors said Richins laced Eric Richins’ cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near the ski town of Park City in 2022. They also said she published a children’s book about a boy coping with the death of his father shortly before her arrest in 2023.
Prosecutors also said Richins was a real estate agent and had a house-flipping business, while they described her as being millions in debt and planning a future with another man. Prosecutors said she opened multiple life insurance policies on her husband without his knowledge and falsely believed she would inherit his estate, which they said was worth more than $4 million after his death.
The jury convicted Richins in March of five felony counts, including aggravated murder. In addition to aggravated murder, the verdicts included insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder. Prosecutors said the attempted-murder charge stemmed from an incident on Valentine’s Day when they alleged Richins tried to poison her husband with a fentanyl-laced sandwich that made him black out.
When Richins appears for sentencing Wednesday, the judge is weighing the aggravated murder conviction, which prosecutors said carries a choice of punishment. Prosecutors said her aggravated murder conviction is punishable either by 25 years to life in prison or by a life sentence without parole, and they said they did not push for the death penalty. They asked the court to impose life without parole, and they declined to pursue the death penalty.
Ahead of the hearing, Richins’ attorneys declined to comment Tuesday. Prosecutors’ memo also pointed to the sentencing date aligning with the day her husband would have turned 44, and prosecutors said Richins faces more than two dozen money-related criminal charges in a separate case that has not yet gone to trial.
As the sentencing proceeds, the court will also consider the children’s account of what they believe would happen if their mother were released—an account prosecutors used to support a request for the longest possible sentence available under the aggravated murder conviction.