PARK CITY, Utah (NewsNation) — A Utah woman, who wrote a children’s book on coping with grief after her husband’s death, is set to appear in court Monday for the start of a hearing that could determine whether there’s enough evidence to proceed with a trial in the case where she’s accused of fatally poisoning him.
Kouri Richins faces several felony charges for allegedly killing her husband, Eric Richins, with a deadly dose of fentanyl in March 2022. Prosecutors say she slipped five times the lethal dose of the synthetic opioid into a Moscow mule cocktail that her husband drank.
Additional charges filed in March accuse the 34-year-old of an earlier attempt to kill him. She has been adamant in maintaining her innocence.
What’s expected from the hearing?
During Monday’s hearing, both the defense and prosecution are expected to call on witnesses and present evidence to build their cases. Judge Richard Mrazik will decide afterward whether the state has provided enough evidence to go to trial.
Potential witnesses include relatives of the defendant and her late husband, a housekeeper who allegedly sold Kouri Richins the drugs, and friends of Eric Richins who have shared details of phone conversations from the day prosecutors claim he was first poisoned by his wife.
Richins’ lawyers expect the hearing to last throughout Monday and Tuesday, and possibly into Wednesday.
Children’s book may serve as evidence against Kouri Richins
The Utah mom of three boys, who wrote a children’s book titled “Are You With Me?” about coping with grief after her husband’s unexpected death, may see her work used as evidence against her.
The book could play a role for prosecutors who plan to frame Eric Richins’ death as premeditated murder with an elaborate cover-up attempt.
Prosecutors have accused Kouri Richins of making secret financial arrangements and buying the illegal drug as her husband grew suspicious of her.
A few months after the book’s release, she was charged with her husband’s murder.
On the night of his death, Kouri Richins told police that she made her husband a Moscow mule, which he drank in bed. She claimed that after putting one of their kids to bed, she fell asleep and returned to find her husband unresponsive.
Though Richins said she was asleep during the time of her husband’s death, police discovered several messages were sent and received on her phone during that period, all of which had been deleted.
Just a month before his death in March 2022, Eric Richins got sick after a Valentine’s Day dinner with his wife and told a friend that he believed his wife was trying to poison him.
Autopsy reports revealed that Eric Richins died of a fentanyl overdose.
What charges does Kouri Richins face?
In addition to aggravated murder, assault and drug charges, Kouri Richins has been charged with mortgage fraud, forgery and insurance fraud for allegedly forging loan applications and fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after her husband’s death.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
