Utah judge denies mom, author bail in poisoning trial
PARK CITY, Utah — A judge has ruled that a Utah mother of three who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death, and was later accused of fatally poisoning him, will remain in jail throughout her trial after her sisterin-law called her “desperate, greedy and extremely manipulative” during a court hearing.
Kouri Richins knelt her head and cried as a detective testified about authorities finding her husband dead and “cold to the touch,” and prosecutors argued the evidence against her was strong enough to deny her bail.
Her case became a true-crime sensation last month when charges were filed as a transfixed public pored over remarks Richins made promoting “Are You With Me?” — the illustrated storybook about an angel wing-clad father watching over his children after passing away.
A detention hearing Monday offered both prosecutors and Richins’ attorneys a chance to preview their cases and provide contrasting theories of what happened. Prosecutors called to the stand a detective, a private investigator and a forensic accountant who painted a picture of Richins as having calculatingly plotted to kill her husband, making financial arrangements and purchasing drugs found in his system after his March 2022 death.
In a victim impact statement she read in court, Amy Richins, Eric’s sister, said it was painful for the family to watch Kouri Richins promote her book.
“Since Eric’s death, we have learned — and unfortunately are continually reminded — that Kouri is desperate, greedy and extremely manipulative,” she said.
Richins’ attorneys argued the evidence against her was both dubious and circumstantial, noting no drugs were found at the home after the death and suggesting the state’s star witness — the 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.