Utah woman handed life sentence for fentanyl-laced-cocktail murder of husband

A ut. Overprotect who published a children's rule book nearly heartache after the death of her husband will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole for his murder, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Kouri Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing her husband Eric Richins' cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Valentine's Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich.

Her defence said it will appeal the conviction and sentence.

"A person convicted of those things is simply too dangerous to ever be free," Judge Richard Mrazik said when handing down the sentence on the day that Eric Richins would have turned 44.

Prosecutors said Richins, a 35-year-old real estate agent with a house-flipping business, was millions of dollars in debt and planning a future with another man. She had opened numerous life insurance policies on her husband, Eric Richins, without his knowledge and falsely believed she would inherit his estate, worth more than $4 million US, after he died.

Richins stood at the podium in a lime-green jail uniform as she asked her sons, who were not present in court, "Please just don't give up on me."

Richins faces several decades to life in prison. She has been adamant in maintaining she is innocent, saying Wednesday that the verdict was "an absolute lie."

Eric Richins' father, Eugene Richins, urged Mrazik to impose a life sentence without the possibility of parole to protect his grandsons, who were nine, seven and five when their father died.

"This sentence is important so Eric's three sons never have to live with the fear that the person responsible for taking their father could ever harm them again," he said during the sentencing hearing, which fell on the day his son would have turned 44.

The case captivated true-crime enthusiasts when Richins was arrested in 2023 while promoting her children's book about a boy coping with the death of his father.

Richins' sons "are not props for some twisted children's book about grief and loss, and yet that is what they've been reduced to by Kouri," said her sister-in-law Katie Richins-Benson, who now has the boys in her care.

Letters from the sons were read in court. They all said they would feel unsafe if their mother was ever released from prison. The children said Richins threatened to kill their animals and showed them videos of famished children in war zones when they refused to eat undercooked food.

"You took away my dad for no reason other than greed, and you only cared about yourself and your stupid boyfriends," said the middle son, now 11. He described having to "be a parent" to his younger brother because his mother did not watch over them. Richins made the boy paranoid about sitting on his dad's side of the bed, saying he might die, too, he alleged.

The oldest son, now 13, said he also felt like he had to take care of his siblings, but his younger brother "mostly took care of me, though, because I was locked in my room." He said his mother would lock him inside "pretty much daily" while she was drunk.

"I will and have always prioritized your safety," Richins said in court after hearing her sons' statements.

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