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PARK CITY — A Kamas mother, realtor and author accused of fatally poisoning her husband was ordered to stand trial for aggravated murder and attempted homicide on Tuesday by 3rd District Judge Richard Mrazik.
Mrazik specified that Kouri Richins retains the presumption of innocence and said at this stage inferences must be made in favor of the prosecutors.
"We are not determining, in any degree, guilt at all. … Nothing the court says today affects her presumption of innocence in any way," he said.
Richins, 34, was ordered to stand trial for aggravated murder and attempted criminal homicide, both first-degree felonies; two counts of distributing a controlled substance, two counts of insurance fraud and two counts of filing a fraudulent insurance claim, all second-degree felonies; and three counts of forgery, a third-degree felony.
Following the judge's decision, Richins entered not guilty pleas for each charge and attorneys scheduled a four-week trial beginning April 28, 2025.
Evidence pointing to attempted murder
Brad Bloodworth, deputy Summit County attorney, said the court already found substantial evidence at a previous hearing for the aggravated homicide charge and focused his comments in this hearing on the attempted homicide charge. That alleged crime, he said, occurred on Feb. 14, 2022, shortly before Eric Richins' death on March 4, 2022. He said much of the evidence connects to both charges.
"The drug is the same, the drug dealer is the same, the timing is the same — but she learned. She (Kouri Richins) learned she needed something stronger; she also learned how to administer it," Bloodworth said.
Bloodworth said putting the drugs in a sandwich where Eric Richins could put it down part way through consumption was changed to a shot, in which he would take it all at once. The prosecutor said in a journal note, Kouri Richins said she learned it would take "a truckload" to kill someone, which is why Eric Richins' toxicology report showed five times the lethal dose in his blood and more in his gastric fluid.
He cited multiple texts as evidence in the case. One was a text to a friend, sent months after her husband died, in which Kouri Richins said she had been working from home with her husband on Valentine's Day, the day prosecutors claim she attempted to murder Eric Richins. But Bloodworth said prosecutors know she was not working from home that day, but was instead with her boyfriend.
Another text he relied on was sent from Kouri Richins to her boyfriend in the week before her husband's death. She said: "Life is going to be different, I promise. Hang in there until Friday."
"On Friday, Eric Richins was dead," Bloodworth said.
Bloodworth said it was "chilling" that Richins told her husband to take a nap on Valentine's Day in 2022 when he told her via text he was not feeling well and might go to the hospital, and then did not reach out again for two hours. The prosecutor said there was a photo sent from Eric Richins to Kouri Richins during the conversation that was removed from both phones.
"That is in the moment consciousness of guilt," he said.
He talked about Kouri Richins' financial situation and said she would benefit more from her husband's death than from a divorce.
"The motive is super strong," Bloodworth said, for both the aggravated murder charge and the attempted murder charge.
Richins' attorneys cast doubt
Richins' attorney, Kathryn Nester, said Bloodworth's characterization of Kouri Richins' texts with her husband as "chilling" was misleading, noting that she had asked if he wanted her to come home.
She said there is no text in which Eric Richins told his wife he was feeling sick, that the texts cited by prosecutors make it sound like they had already talked about it. Nester also said phone records show Eric Richins ran multiple errands, made business calls during that day, brought his sons to a soccer game and purchased dinner for the boys, leaving dinner in his truck for his wife.
"That's the day that they are now saying … that you can infer she tried to murder her husband," Nester said.
She said the evidence that shows Kouri Richins had ordered an egg sandwich, the sandwich prosecutors claim she used to poison her husband on Valentine's Day, is important.
"I don't know about you, but I'm not eating an egg sandwich two to three hours after it's brought to me. You eat it quick or you don't eat it," Nester said.
She said it is "perfectly possible" that they ate sandwiches together before Kouri Richins left the home before 10 a.m. and said it would be hard to poison someone while eating together.
The defense attorney said if you look at the attempted murder charge by itself, not considering Eric Richins' death weeks later, there is no evidence of opportunity or that Eric Richins took any drugs.
While Bloodworth discussed the attempted murder charge in his opening arguments, Mrazik expressed some concern about the amount of evidence.
"This turns just about every possession charge into an attempted murder charge if the spouse has some medical event around the same time," the judge said.
Bloodworth said this case is different because Eric Richins died under similar circumstances just 17 days later.
In response to the drug-related charges, Wendy Lewis, another of Kouri Richins' attorneys, said no one has been able to verify that the drug Kouri Richins obtained was fentanyl.
"None of these people manufactured it, none of these people tested it," Lewis said.
Richins attorneys look to fair trial
Richins' attorneys, Nester, Lewis and Alexander Ramos, released a statement on Tuesday afternoon saying the preliminary hearing favors prosecutors "to an extraordinary degree."
"We firmly believe the charges against Kouri do not withstand thorough scrutiny and are confident that a jury will find the same," they said.
The attorneys said they are turning their focus to ensuring a fair trial.
"We are committed to defending Kouri against these charges, firmly believing that the truth will prevail. These past 15 months have taken a heavy toll on Kouri and her three children. It's time to bring this ordeal to an end, restore her life, and allow her and her family to move on," the statement said.
The next hearing for Richins will be on Sept. 23 to discuss preparations for the trial.
