Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Utah Author Kouri Richins Convicted of Killing Husband With Fentanyl

Sentencing is set for May 13, when she faces 25 years to life on the aggravated murder conviction.

Overview

  • After roughly three hours of deliberation, a Summit County jury found Richins guilty of first-degree aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, forgery and insurance fraud.
  • The medical examiner testified Eric Richins had about five times a lethal dose of illicit fentanyl that was orally ingested when he died in March 2022 at the couple’s Kamas-area home.
  • Prosecutors presented financial and digital records, life insurance paperwork and phone searches, and a housekeeper’s immunity-backed testimony that she supplied fentanyl to Richins.
  • The defense argued there was no direct proof of how the drug entered Eric’s system, sought to undercut witness credibility, and rested without calling any witnesses as Richins declined to testify.
  • Jurors also convicted her of an earlier attempted poisoning on Valentine’s Day 2022; additional money-related criminal counts against Richins remain pending in a separate case.