Grand jury charges against Utah sheriffs add legal questions to Richins case

SALT LAKE CITY — Two Utah sheriffs have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging they interfered with the investigation that led to Kouri Richins' murder conviction, adding a new wrinkle to the high-profile criminal case.

Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby and former Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds were charged by a grand jury for obstruction of justice. Rigby was also charged with making a false written statement.

The charges stem from allegations connected to the investigation into Richins, who was convicted of poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Steve Burton, a Utah criminal defense attorney not affiliated with the case, said using a grand jury is unusual.

"In most cases, when the government decides to file criminal charges against someone, they do it through filing what's called an information. And the information is usually accompanied by a probable cause statement. And that probable cause statement is public record," Burton said. "From the get go of most criminal cases, we know exactly what the allegation is or what the basis for the criminal charge is in this case."

Burton said prosecutors secretly presented evidence to a grand jury that chose to indict the men.

But he said there are clues as to what evidence they have.

According to a court filing, an anonymous letter was sent to the Summit County Attorney's Office alleging one of the Richins murder trial witnesses had a history of misconduct. The letter was about Summit County sheriff's detective Eric Mainord. The allegations dated back to his time working at the Heber City Police Department.

"The judge at the time supposedly looked into that and decided that it wasn't going to have an impact on the case," Burton said.

Richins' attorneys said Mainord was "pivotal in the investigation," and argued they were not fully aware of his background before trial, so they didn't have the chance to question his credibility or truthfulness of his testimony.

Although Mainord was removed from the state's witness list, he appeared in a video shown to jurors during an interview with key witness Carmen Lauber.

"If there was misconduct on the part of a witness and that wasn't disclosed to the defense, and that may have impacted the trial, this could be a really big issue," Burton said.

Mainord was running against current Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby at the time of the trial.

Prosecutors haven't said how his and former Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds' charges relate to the Richins investigation.

Burton said the public does not yet know the full basis of the charges against Rigby and Edmunds because prosecutors presented the allegations and evidence to a grand jury behind closed doors.

"Our best guess is that prosecutors brought these charges because they felt like the sheriff and the former sheriff, what they did was an inappropriate or illegal attempt to interfere with the trial," Burton said. "I think people are assuming that may have been politically motivated."

He said grand juries are often used in sensitive cases involving public officials or law enforcement officers.

Richins' attorneys asked the court to delay a decision on their request for a new trial while they learn more about the allegations against the two sheriffs.

"They are asking for more time to be able to find out what the criminal allegation is against the sheriff and former sheriff so that they can determine if they think that somehow the process of convicting Ms. Richins was incomplete or was inappropriate," Burton said. "It's a very unique and fascinating development to the Kouri Richins case and the case against the sheriffs in and of itself will be extremely interesting."

As the case moves forward, Burton said Rigby and Edmunds could seek a plea agreement or choose to take their cases to trial.

"It's unusual and a little bit surprising that they would potentially bring a case that could affect a long, drawn-out murder case," Burton said.

The prosecutors in the sheriffs' cases are the same individuals involved in the Richins murder trial. In court documents filed by Richins' attorneys, they stated: "Retired Judge Richard McKelvie was sworn in as a special prosecutor for the Summit County Attorney's Office to aid in this investigation."

Burton said he may have been brought in because of the case's sensitive political nature.

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