Jury selection to begin in murder trial of Utah mom accused of fatally poisoning husband with fentanyl
Jury selection is set to begin on Tuesday in the murder trial of Kouri Richins, a Utah mom accused of fatally poisoning her husband with fentanyl.
The 35-year-old realtor, who wrote and self-published a children's book on grieving following her husband's death, was arrested in 2023 following a lengthy investigation. She was charged with aggravated murder in connection with the 2022 death of her husband, Eric Richins. Prosecutors allege she spiked his cocktail with a lethal dose of fentanyl.
She is also charged with attempted aggravated murder, with prosecutors alleging she gave him a sandwich laced with fentanyl on Valentine's Day two weeks before his death in an initial, failed attempt to kill him.
Kouri Richins has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Jury selection is scheduled over two weeks. The trial is set to begin with opening statements on Feb. 23 and last up to five weeks.
Prosecutors allege that Kouri Richins fraudulently secured a life insurance policy on her husband's death in January 2022 and had financial incentive to kill him. She is also accused of texting a paramour on Feb. 15, 2022, the day after the alleged Valentine's Day incident, that "if he could just go away ... life would be so perfect."
Eric Richins, 39, was found dead in the couple's bedroom on March 4, 2022. An autopsy determined he died from fentanyl intoxication, and the level of fentanyl in his blood was approximately five times the lethal dosage, according to the charging document. The medical examiner determined the fentanyl was "illicit fentanyl," not medical grade, according to the charging document.
Kouri Richins has remained in Summit County Jail since her arrest. She proclaimed her innocence in an audio recording released in May 2024.
"The world has yet to hear who I really am, what I've really done or didn't do," Kouri Richins insisted in the audio, provided to ABC News through a trusted confidant. "What I really didn't do is murder my husband."
A month prior to her arrest in May 2023, the mom of three appeared on a "Good Things Utah" segment on Salt Lake City ABC affiliate KTVX to promote her children's book. In the segment, Kouri Richins said her husband of nine years died "unexpectedly" and that his death "completely took us all by shock."
Kouri Richins also faces over two dozen charges in a separate case filed last year alleging she committed mortgage fraud in 2021. The charging document alleges she submitted falsified bank statements in support of mortgage loan applications for her realty business, committed money laundering and issued bad checks.
The charges in the case also allege she murdered her husband for financial gain as she "stood on the precipice of total financial collapse." According to the charging document, around the time of Eric Richins' death, her realty company owed lenders nearly $5 million, and his estate was worth approximately $5 million.
She has not yet entered a plea to those charges.
