Grief Author Accused of Fatally Poisoning Husband Enters Plea as Case Goes to Trial

Richins is accused of killing her husband, Eric Richins, with a poisoned Moscow Mule before writing a children's book about grief. In May 2023, Richins was arrested and charged with aggravated murder and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, more than a year after her husband was found dead in his bed at the age of 39. She was later hit with more charges, including attempted murder, mortgage fraud, insurance fraud and forgery.

A preliminary hearing went down this week in Utah, where prosecutors presented evidence to show they had enough to go to trail. On Tuesday, the second day of the hearing, a judge decided they had shown enough probable cause to battle it out in court. A trial date was set for April 28, with a pretrial conference set to discuss jury selection for September 23, according to the AP.

Richins also entered a not guilty plea for all 11 counts.

Per the AP, Summit County Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth argued Richins deserved the additional attempted murder charge for allegedly trying to kill her husband with a sandwich 17 days before his death.

Prosecutors say Eric claimed he broke out in hives and blacked out after taking a bite of his favorite sandwich, which Kouri allegedly got for him from a diner and left out with a note on Valentine's Day.

According to previously released court docs, Eric said he used his son's EpiPen and "drank a bottle of Benadryl," before texting his wife, "I'm gonna go lay down for a bit if I don't start getting better I'm gonna head to the hospital." She responded by saying, "Geez, it's that bad? Need me to come home?" -- but didn't come home, saying she was "waiting for my cabinet installer guy." Per docs, she had texted a man prosecutors refer to as her "paramour" that same day, saying she was "headed that way."

After waking up later, Eric allegedly told one witness, "I think my wife tried to poison me." He told a friend "You almost lost me" and claimed he "almost died," with the witness saying they could "hear the fear in Eric Richins' voice" and could tell he "was scared."

Per prosecutors, a housekeeper claims to have sold Kouri fentanyl the same week of the incident -- before Kouri later said it wasn't strong enough and she needed "some of the Michael Jackson stuff."

In court this week, defense attorneys reportedly argued that fentanyl was never found in the home, so it can't be certain they were a match for the drugs Richins allegedly bought from the housekeeper.

"We firmly believe the charges against Kouri do not withstand thorough scrutiny and are confident that a jury will find the same," her legal team said in a statement after the hearing.

In a filing laying out their case against Richins, prosecutors previously accused her of killing her husband with fentanyl because she wanted to be with her lover, as well as for financial gain.

They claim she was more than $3.1 million in debt at the time of his death -- saying "her bank accounts were exhausted, and she was spiraling toward total financial collapse." Prosecutors also say that, on the day he died, Eric's estate was worth an estimated $5 million -- and believe Kouri thought she would benefit from his death.

In statements to Dateline in May, Richins maintained her innocence.

"I've been silent for a year, locked away from my kids, my family, my life, living with the media telling the world who they think I am, what they think I’ve done or how they think I’ve lived," she told the outlet. "And it's time to start speaking up."

"You took an innocent mom away from her babies. This means war," the mother-of-three continued.

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