Closing arguments set at trial for Utah children’s author charged with killing husband

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Lawyers are anticipated to offer closing arguments Monday within the trials of a Utah girl who revealed a children’s ebook about grief after the dying of her husband and was later accused of killing him.

What was scheduled to be a five-week trial was lower brief final week when accused Kouri Richins waived her proper to testify and her authorized workforce abruptly rested her case with out calling any witnesses. Richins’ attorneys stated they had been assured that prosecutors did not produce sufficient proof over the previous three weeks to convict her of homicide.

Prosecutors say Richins, 35, slipped 5 instances the deadly dose of fentanyl right into a cocktail that she made for her husband, Eric Richins, inflicting his dying in March 2022 at their dwelling simply outdoors the prosperous ski city of Park City.

She can be charged with fraudulently claiming insurance coverage advantages after her husband’s dying, attempting to kill him weeks earlier on Valentine’s Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich that made him black out, and different felonies, in keeping with court docket paperwork. Richins has pleaded not responsible to all expenses.

The most critical cost — aggravated homicide — carries a sentence of 25 years to life in jail.

Prosecutors will purpose to drive dwelling their argument that Richins killed her husband for his cash as she was planning a future with one other man she was watching on the facet.

The protection is anticipated to argue that the prosecution’s case is filled with holes and leaves a lot to hypothesis.

Millions in debt

Prosecutors have stated Richins, an actual property agent centered on flipping homes, was $4.5 million in debt and falsely believed that if her husband died she would inherit his property value greater than $4 million. She had opened quite a few life insurance coverage insurance policies on her husband with out his data, with advantages totaling about $2 million, prosecutors alleged.

They confirmed the jury textual content messages between Richins and Robert Josh Grossman, the person with whom she was allegedly having an affair, during which she fantasized about leaving her husband, incomes thousands and thousands in a divorce and in the future marrying Grossman.

A digital forensics analyst confirmed the web search historical past from Richins’ cellphone, which included “what is a lethal.dose.of.fetanayl (sic),” “luxury prisons for the rich America” and “if someone is poisned (sic) what does it go down on the death certificate as.”

Children’s ebook turns into a device for prosecutors

Shortly earlier than her arrest in May 2023, Richins self-published a children’s ebook about grief to assist her sons course of the lack of their father. She promoted the ebook “Are You with Me?” on native TV and radio stations, which prosecutors have identified in arguing that Richins deliberate the killing and tried to cowl it up.

Summit County Sheriff’s Detective Jeff O’Driscoll, the lead investigator on the case, testified that Richins paid a ghostwriting firm to jot down the ebook for her.

O’Driscoll stated the sheriff’s workplace acquired an nameless bundle shortly after Richins’ arrest that contained the ebook and a observe: “There are two sides to every story. This is a true Kouri, a devoted wife and adoring mother. Thought you should know.”

Investigators later discovered from Amazon that Richins’ mom despatched the ebook.

‘Give us the main points that can guarantee Kouri will get convicted’

Defense attorneys sought to discredit the prosecution’s star witness, Carmen Lauber, a housekeeper for the household who claimed to have offered Richins fentanyl on a number of events.

Wendy Lewis, an legal professional for Richins, argued Lauber didn’t deal fentanyl and was motivated to lie for authorized safety. Lauber stated in early interviews that she by no means dealt with the artificial opioid however later stated she did after investigators knowledgeable her that Eric Richins died of a fentanyl overdose, the protection famous.

The housekeeper was already in a drug court docket program as an alternative choice to incarceration on different expenses when authorities arrested her in connection with the Richins case, investigators stated. She had additionally violated some circumstances of drug court docket.

The protection confirmed a video of regulation enforcement warning Lauber that they might pull her drug court docket deal and that she might face a prolonged jail sentence.

“Give us the details that will ensure Kouri gets convicted of murder,” a person within the video stated.

Lauber was granted immunity for her cooperation within the case. She testified that she felt a have to “step up and take accountability of my part in this.”

Jury hears letter present in jail cell

Prosecutors confirmed the jury excerpts of a letter present in Richins’ jail cell that they stated seems to stipulate testimony for her mom and brother. In the six-page letter, Richins instructs his brother to inform his former legal professional that Eric Richins confided in him about getting fentanyl from Mexico and “gets high every night.”

Defense attorneys stated the letter comprises a fictional story Richins had been engaged on. They have argued that Eric Richins was hooked on painkillers and requested his spouse to acquire opioids for him.

However, Richins advised police on the evening of her husband’s dying that he had no historical past of illicit drug use, in keeping with physique digicam footage proven in court docket.