Utah children’s grief author Kouri Richins was found guilty on Monday of fatally poisoning her husband in a twisted plot to bail herself out of debt with his $4 million estate and run away with her handyman lover.
The jury in Park City handed down the guilty verdict after roughly three hours of deliberations following a three-week trial where prosecutors painted Richins as an egotistical social climber for slipping a fatal dose of fentanyl into her husband Eric’s Moscow Mule cocktail on March 4, 2022.
The 35-year-old mom of three who penned a children’s book about her kids’ grief after the murder appeared defeated and hung her head low as the guilty verdicts were read on aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, insurance fraud, and forgery charges.
She was also found guilty of trying to poison him a month earlier on Valentine’s Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich that made him break out in hives and black out, prosecutors said.
Richin’s home-flipping business was $4.5 million in debt when she hatched the sinister scheme to try to collect Eric’s estate and start a new life with her lover, Robert Josh Grossman, prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told jurors during blistering closing arguments earlier Monday.
Kouri, who lived with her husband and kids in Kamas, a suburb of the wealthy ski town Park City, was an “incompetent” business owner who “carefully curated the facade of a privileged, affluent, successful business owner,” Bloodworth argued.
The “way forward” for the conniving wannabee socialite was that “Eric had to die,” the prosecutor continued.
Richins asked Grossman, the married mom’s secret lover and a 43-year-old Iraq war veteran, if he’d ever killed anyone, just days after she fatally slipped fentanyl into her hubby’s cocktail.
Richins posed the question in March 2022, as the pair discussed 39-year-old Eric’s sudden death for the first time, the handyman testified earlier in the trial.
Richins wrote and promoted a kids’ book, “Are You With Me?”, a year after the poisoning plot to help their sons process their loss.
“She wanted to leave Eric Richins but did not want to leave his money,” Bloodworth told jurors. “Their prenup meant if she left him, she would also leave most of his money.”
Throughout the prosecution’s arguments, Richins derisively smirked and made faces, including furrowing her eyebrows, grinning, and occasionally hurriedly leaning over and speaking with the defense team.
The failed house flipper’s defense lawyer, Kathy Nester, made a bid for a mistrial, claiming Bloodworth had made missteps during his closing — but the motion was shot down by Judge Richard Mrazik.
Richins, who pleaded not guilty to the crimes, faces up to 25 years behind bars. She is slated to be sentenced on May 13.
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