“A person convicted of those things is simply too dangerous to ever be free,” Judge Richard Mrazik said Wednesday, May 13, before sentencing Kouri Richins to life in prison without parole for killing her husband with fentanyl.
Richins, 35, is the Utah mother who self-published a children’s book about grief after Eric Richins died in March 2022. A Summit County jury convicted her on all counts in March, after a weekslong trial and about three hours of deliberation. The counts were aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, and insurance fraud.
What the prosecution proved
Eric Richins, 39, was found dead in bed on March 4, 2022. The autopsy found fentanyl in his blood at about five times a lethal dose, according to the charging document.
Prosecutors said she spiked his drink with fentanyl she bought illegally after asking two people for the “Michael Jackson drug.” They said she had tried once already, two weeks earlier on Valentine’s Day, with a fentanyl-laced sandwich. The insurance fraud count covered a $100,000 policy taken out on his life with a forged signature, plus the claim she filed after he died.
The motive, prosecutors argued, was money. They said her house-flipping business was in debt, she was having an affair, and she wanted a fresh start without leaving behind his money. A digital forensics analyst testified that her phone searches included “what is a lethal dose of fentanyl.” Prosecutors said she did not know his assets sat in a trust.
The defense said Eric Richins was addicted to painkillers and had asked his wife to buy him opioids.
The sentencing hearing
Mrazik told the court he had two options, 25 years to life or life without parole. He weighed what each might mean for the couple’s three sons. Someday one of them might “resent” a sentence without parole, he said. Or they could spend decades wondering why the court let the person who killed their father possibly go free. He settled on life without parole, citing an attempt to kill her husband, followed by a second try that succeeded, all for money. He imposed no fines.
Richins spoke for nearly 40 minutes, in lime-green jail clothes and handcuffs. She addressed her sons, calling them her “sweet baby boys,” and said she had been unable to contact them since early 2024. She called the idea that she murdered their father “an absolute lie.” She said she would appeal “no matter how long it takes.”
Prosecutors had asked for life without parole and for restitution of more than $1.3 million to two insurance companies. Their sentencing memo, filed ahead of the hearing, said she “murdered Eric in the presence of their children, using poison, and for money.” It included statements from the boys, who were 9, 7 and 5 when their father died. The eldest wrote, “my dad was a good person and very thoughtful and kind.” The youngest said he would feel “so scared” if his mother were released.
Defense attorney Wendy Lewis asked the judge to ignore the memo, calling it full of “unsworn allegations untested by cross-examination.” The judge refused to strike any of it. Lewis asked for 25 years to life, and defense attorney Kathryn Nester told the court Richins was not the “monster” the prosecution portrayed. Richins’ mother, in a letter read aloud, called the conviction a “profound injustice.”
Eric Richins’ sister Katie Richins-Benson, who now cares for the boys with her husband, spoke for the family. The hearing fell on what would have been his 44th birthday.
Sources
- Murder of Eric Richins – Wikipedia
- Kouri Richins sentenced to life without parole for fatally poisoning husband with fentanyl
