Article content material
PARK CITY, Utah — Detectives on Monday described in court docket how they zeroed in on a Utah mom recognized for penning a kids’s ebook about grief as the primary suspect in her husband’s deadly poisoning.
Commercial 2
Article content material
The multiday listening to will decide whether or not prosecutors have sufficient proof towards her to proceed with a trial.
Kouri Richins, 34, faces a number of felony prices for allegedly killing her husband with a deadly dose of fentanyl in March 2022 at their dwelling in a small mountain city close to Park Metropolis. Prosecutors say she slipped 5 instances the deadly dose of the artificial opioid right into a Moscow mule cocktail that Eric Richins, 39, drank.
Further prices filed in March accuse her of an earlier try and kill her husband with a spiked sandwich on Valentine’s Day. She has been adamant in sustaining she is harmless.
Detective Jeff O’Driscoll with the Summit County Sheriff’s Workplace was referred to as to the stand Monday to explain his interactions with the state’s key witness, a housekeeper who claims to have bought fentanyl to Kouri Richins on three events. He mentioned police first linked housekeeper Carmen Lauber to Kouri Richins by a sequence of textual content messages and later arrested Lauber, saying medicine and different unlawful objects have been discovered at her dwelling.
Your Noon Solar
Article content material
Commercial 3
Article content material
Lauber, 52, initially denied any data of how Eric Richins died, however she later opened up in an interview with O’Driscoll after he informed her the drug prices towards her could be diminished or eradicated in change for useful data, the detective mentioned. The housekeeper “went forwards and backwards on what occurred, what didn’t occur and in what order issues occurred,” O’Driscoll defined in court docket.
He mentioned Lauber informed him she had bought Kouri Richins as much as 90 blue-green fentanyl tablets, and her provider later confirmed to detectives that he had bought her the fentanyl she requested. Officers didn’t discover any fentanyl tablets within the Richins dwelling, the detective mentioned.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
We apologize, however this video has didn’t load.
Lauber has acquired a letter of immunity from the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace and isn’t at the moment in custody, O’Driscoll mentioned. She is among the many witnesses who could possibly be referred to as to testify later within the listening to or throughout a attainable trial.
Commercial 4
Article content material
Different witnesses could embody relations of the defendant and her late husband, and buddies of Eric Richins who’ve recounted telephone conversations from the day prosecutors say he was first poisoned by his spouse of 9 years.
Within the months earlier than her arrest in Could 2023, the mom of three self-published the youngsters’s ebook “Are You with Me?” a couple of father with angel wings watching over his younger son after passing away. The ebook may finally play a key position for prosecutors in framing Eric Richins’ dying as a calculated killing with an elaborate cover-up try. Prosecutors have accused Kouri Richins of constructing secret monetary preparations and shopping for the unlawful drug as her husband started to harbor suspicions about her.
Commercial 5
Article content material
Utah state Choose Richard Mrazik is anticipated to resolve as early as Tuesday whether or not the state has introduced enough proof to go ahead with a trial.
Mrazik had delayed the listening to in Could after prosecutors mentioned they would wish three consecutive days to current their proof. The case was additional slowed when Kouri Richins’ staff of personal attorneys withdrew from representing her. The decide decided she was unable to proceed paying for personal illustration, and he appointed attorneys Wendy Lewis and Kathy Nester to take over her case.
The 2 attorneys used the primary day of the listening to to construct upon arguments introduced by Kouri Richins’ former lead lawyer, Skye Lazaro. They insinuated that the housekeeper Lauber had motivation to lie as she sought leniency within the face of drug prices.
Commercial 6
Article content material
Lazaro additionally argued that Eric Richins’ sisters had a transparent bias towards her former shopper amid a battle over his property and a concurrent assault case. Comparable arguments may come up if relations are referred to as to the stand.
A petition filed by the sufferer’s sister, Katie Richins, alleges Kouri Richins had monetary motives for killing her husband as prosecutors say she had opened life insurance coverage insurance policies totaling almost $2 million with out his data and mistakenly believed she would inherit his property below phrases of their prenuptial settlement.
Courtroom information point out Eric Richins had consulted an lawyer in October 2020 to debate the opportunity of submitting for divorce and to quietly minimize his spouse out of his will. Forensic accountant Brooke Karrington mentioned transcripts from that assembly point out Eric Richins knew his spouse was making main monetary choices with out consulting him, however he by no means went by with ending the wedding.
In Could, Kouri Richins was discovered responsible on misdemeanor prices of assaulting her different sister-in-law shortly after her husband’s dying. Amy Richins informed the decide that Kouri Richins had punched her within the face throughout an argument over entry to her brother’s protected.
Along with aggravated homicide, assault and drug prices, Kouri Richins has been charged with mortgage fraud, forgery and insurance coverage fraud for allegedly forging mortgage functions and fraudulently claiming insurance coverage advantages after her husband’s dying.
Article content material
