verdicoin-No death penalty for a Utah mom accused of killing her husband, then writing a kid book about death

2025-05-04 11:23:52source:Alaric Bennettcategory:Markets

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against a Utah mother who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death and verdicoinis now accused of fatally poisoning him.

Prosecutors say Kouri Richins, 33, poisoned Eric Richins, 39, by slipping five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a Moscow mule cocktail she made for him last year.

After her husband’s death, the mother of three self-published a children’s book titled “Are You with Me?” about a deceased father wearing angel wings who watched over his sons. She promoted the book on television and radio, describing the book as a way to help children grieve the loss of a loved one.

Prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty after conferring with the victim’s father and two sisters, according to a court filing Friday.

Other news Dealer gets 10 years in prison in death of actor Michael K. WilliamsUN condemns recent gang attacks in Haiti as Kenya deploys recon mission to troubled nationCourt tosses Jan. 6 sentence in ruling that could impact other low-level Capitol riot cases

Following a June hearing in which Richins’ sister-in-law called her “desperate, greedy and extremely manipulative,” a judge has ordered that Richins remain in jail pending trial.

Prosecutors say Richins planned at length to kill her husband, making financial arrangements and purchasing drugs found in his system after his March 2022 death.

Richins’ attorneys point out that no drugs were found at the family home after her husband’s death. They’ve also suggested that a witness, a housekeeper who claims to have sold Richins the drugs, had motivation to lie as she sought leniency in the face of state and federal drug charges.

Richins made major changes to the family’s estate plans and took out life insurance policies on him with benefits totaling nearly $2 million, prosecutors allege. Her attorneys counter that the prosecution’s case based on financial motives proved she was “bad at math,” not guilty of murder.

Richins, meanwhile, is facing a lawsuit seeking over $13 million in damages for alleged financial wrongdoing before and after his death.

The lawsuit filed in state court by Katie Richins, the sister of Eric Richins, accuses Kouri Richins of taking money from her husband’s accounts, diverting money intended to pay his taxes and obtaining a fraudulent loan, among other things, before his death.

More:Markets

Recommend

Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas State Police are investigating the death of an Arkansas woman whos

Reba McEntire finds a new on-screen family in NBC’s ‘Happy’s Place’

NEW YORK (AP) — Reba McEntire finds herself behind the bar in her latest return to network TV, makin

Antarctica’s Fate Will Impact the World. Is It Time to Give The Region a Voice at Climate Talks?

With the Earth at its most degraded point in recorded history, and humans making insufficient effort