Kouri Richins, left, a Utah mom of three who authorities say fatally poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, then wrote a kids’s e book about grieving, listens as her lawyer Skye Lazaro speaks throughout a standing listening to Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, in Park Metropolis, Utah. Credit score: AP/Rick Bowmer
PARK CITY, Utah — Jailhouse writings by a Utah mom accused of killing her husband, then writing a kids’s e book about dying, have led prosecutors to accuse her of attempting to tamper with witnesses, an allegation that her attorneys say is baseless.
A relative of Kouri Richins in the meantime went public in an interview Friday to say her innocence — a improvement foretold by Richins’ writings filed in court docket days earlier. In that letter, which was present in a textbook in her jail cell, Kouri Richins wrote that her lawyer, Skye Lazaro, would prepare for “my women” to do an interview with “Good Morning America.”
“We all know Kouri is harmless. And all of that’s going to return out in court docket. And I feel that’s going to shock folks,” stated her brother, recognized solely as “DJ” within the “Good Morning America” interview.
Lazaro didn’t return telephone and e-mail messages Friday looking for clarification on whether or not “DJ” is similar brother who Richins known as “Ronney” within the letter.
“Once I acquired the information that Eric died, I broke down into tears. He was man. I imply, he lived life to the acute and finally it acquired him,” the brother stated within the televised interview.
Prosecutors say Kouri Richins, 33, poisoned Eric Richins, 39, by slipping 5 instances the deadly dose of fentanyl right into a Moscow mule cocktail she made for him final yr.
After her husband’s dying, the mom of three self-published a kids’s e book titled “Are You With Me?” a few deceased father carrying angel wings who watched over his sons. She promoted the e book on TV and radio, describing the e book as a method to assist kids grieve the lack of a cherished one.
Richins’ attorneys level out that no medicine have been discovered on the household residence after her husband’s dying. They’ve additionally recommended {that a} witness, a housekeeper who says she bought Kouri Richins the medicine, had motivation to lie as she sought leniency within the face of state and federal drug prices.
Prosecutors on Sept. 15 filed a six-page, handwritten doc they are saying Kouri Richins wrote and {that a} sheriff’s deputy present in her cell in a prep e book for the Regulation Faculty Admission Check (LSAT), in response to court docket paperwork.
Within the doc, on which “Stroll The Canine!!” is written in giant letters on the prime of the primary web page, Richins suggests a situation through which “Ronney” would have talked along with her husband about his “Mexico journeys” to get “ache capsules & fentanyl.”
“Reword this nonetheless he must, to make the purpose. Simply embrace all of it,” reads the doc. Apparently addressed to Richins’ mom, the doc closes by calling her “the very best mother in the entire world!”
Prosecutors allege the doc outlines potential witness tampering. Richins’ attorneys countered that these are “unsupported conclusions.”
Prosecutors have determined to not search the dying penalty in opposition to Richins after conferring with the sufferer’s father and two sisters.
A choose earlier this yr ordered Richins to stay in jail pending trial.
Prosecutors say Richins deliberate at size to kill her husband, making monetary preparations and buying medicine present in his system after his March 2022 dying.
Richins made main modifications to the household’s property plans and took out life insurance coverage insurance policies on him with advantages totaling practically $2 million, prosecutors allege. Her attorneys counter that the prosecution’s case based mostly on monetary motives proved she was “dangerous at math,” not responsible of homicide.
Richins, in the meantime, is dealing with a lawsuit looking for over $13 million in damages for alleged monetary wrongdoing earlier than and after his dying.
The lawsuit filed in state court docket by Katie Richins, the sister of Eric Richins, accuses Kouri Richins of taking cash from her husband’s accounts, diverting cash meant to pay his taxes and acquiring a fraudulent mortgage, amongst different issues, earlier than his dying.