🚨KOURI RICHINS TRIAL🚨
⚖️DAY ONE
Kouri Richins is accused of murdering her husband, Eric Richins by poisoning him with a lethal dose of fentanyl back in 2022. Her alleged motive? To inherit his money to pay of over $4M in debt, collect on his life insurance, and start a fresh life with her boyfriend.
The trial is presided over by Judge Richard Mrazik in Summit County, Utah. Watchers of the trial love his affect and his voice, lol.
The jury is comprised of 12 people – 8 main jurors and 4 alternates. There are 24 seats for the public and 10 for media.
Kouri Richin’s defense attorney, Kathryn Nester, is also representing Tyler Robinson – the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk.
OPENING STATEMENTS:
🗯️The Prosecution:
Summit County Deputy Attorney, Brad Bloodworth, is the lead prosecutor and said in his opening statement, “The evidence will prove that Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life.” — framing the state’s theory about motive and alleged planning. Prosecutors walked jurors through texts, internet searches, and behavioral evidence they planned to present, including bodycam footage from first responders showing Richins’ emotional state after the discovery. The state framed Richins’ later self-published children’s book on grief as suspicious given the timing and her promotional appearances.
The state pointed out that Eric’s inheritance was worth over $4M and Kouri believed she would get it all, as long as they were still married, according to their prenuptial agreement. Considering their marital issues and consideration for divorce by both Kouri and Eric, the state believes the timing suggests she killed Eric so that she could still inherit his money.
We can also expect to hear about concerning conversation she had with her boyfriend as well as incriminating searches she made on her phone.
💣Before Eric died, Kouri booked an all-inclusive trip to the Caribbean for her and her boyfriend, Josh Grossman. They were expected to check in to their resort one month after Eric died. How would Kouri have pulled that off if Eric was still alive? The state presented text messages she sent to Josh that read, “If I were divorced right now and asked you to marry me tomorrow, you would? I just want to lay on the couch and cuddle you. Watch a murder documentary and snuggle.”
💣THEN, five days AFTER Eric died, like a female Scott Peterson, she texted her boyfriend and said, “Babe, I miss you. I want you today, every day. Not just sexually, but physically, mentally, every day when I wake up. I do want to be together. I do want you. Live our life out together. If he could just go away, and you could just be there, life would be so perfect. I love you idk what my deal is today. I’m sorry.”
HER HUSBAND. HAD JUST. DIED.
THE FATHER OF HER CHILDREN. HAD JUST DIED.
AND SHE WAS TEXTING HER BOYFRIEND.
Let that sink in.
💣The state also presented that on Valentine’s Day, Kouri bought Eric a sandwich from the Mirror Lake Diner and left it for Eric before she left to go meet up with her boyfriend an hour away. Eric texted her and said, “I’m gonna lay down for a bit if I don’t start getting better I’m gonna head to the hospital.” Shortly thereafter, all activity on Eric’s cell phone stopped for nearly 90 minutes “in the middle of a busy work day,” – according to Bloodworth. After those 90 minutes, he called his friends and his friends recall Eric sounding somber, scared and confused. A few days after that, Kouri called her friend/drug supplier, Carmen Lauber, and asked if she could provide her with “something stronger.”
Có thể là hình ảnh về một hoặc nhiều người
🗯️The Defense:
The defense countered that they expected the evidence will show a very different picture. That Eric may have died of an accidental overdose due to lawful prescription medications tied to chronic pain or Lyme disease, not intentional poisoning. They emphasized that there is no direct evidence showing Richins poisoned her husband, and that her behavior after his death should be seen in the context of shock and grief. Defense lawyers also underscored that two previous motions, including to change venue due to pretrial publicity, were denied by the judge, setting the stage for the trial to proceed with the current jury panel.
Nester began opening statements for the defense by playing the 911 call of Kouri telling dispatchers, “My husband is not breathing. He’s cold.” as well as showing body cam footage of EMT’s working on Eric while Kouri paced around the house with her face in her hands.
Nester explained they had just been celebrating on the close of the Midway Mansion (we’ll be hearing about this place a lot). Kouri was a house-flipper and she had dreams of purchasing this Midway Mansion – a huge, sprawling estate that had been abandoned before completion. Her goal was to buy it, clean it up, finish the construction, and sell it for a profit. Kouri got “a good deal on it” and believed she could make at least $2M profit for her and all of her investors. Eric’s business was also doing very well – in fact, in 2020, he claimed over $750,000 in income from the masonry business he owned. On March 3, Eric sent texts to Kouri saying they needed to have some celebratory shots. So, around 9pm, that night, they had lemon drop shots and Kouri made Eric a Moscow mule drink. At 9:30pm, Kouri left her phone in the master bedroom and went to sleep with one of her boys who suffered from night terrors. At around 10pm, Eric talked to one of his friends on the phone who recalled Eric osunding totally normal. At around 10:30pm, Kouri’s phone was unlocked – reportedly because Eric was in the habit of checking Kouri’s phone because they had serious trust issues (for good reason, we will learn.)
According to the defense, when Eric died, it was pretty clear that he had died in his sleep. His phone and apple watch were on their chargers and there was an empty bottle of pills in the nightstand next to Eric’s bed – this pill bottle expired back in 2016.
At around 3am, Kouri woke up and went back into the master bedroom where she found Eric, cold. She called 911.
The medical examiner determined he had been dead for several hours before EMTs arrived.
💣NO fentanyl was found in Eric’s bedroom but Nester points out that nobody ever searched for it.
💣The Moscow Mule cups were never collected or tested. The scene was never secured. The housekeeper was there the very next day and put the cups in the dishwasher.
💣Kouri was interviewed repeatedly and her phone calls were tapped by investigators but her story never wavered.
The defense wants to suggest that Eric struggled with chronic pain and that Eric would ask Kouri to buy him pain pills because prescriptions for Oxycodone are typically around 10mg per pill and if you want something stronger, you either have to get a special prescription or you can buy it on the streets… Nester says back in 2022, the dealer where Carmen Lauber got pills for Kouri only sold Oxycodone, not fentanyl.
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FIRST WITNESSES:
❤️Eugene Richins, Eric’s father. He says Eric was only 39 when he died. Eric helped his dad on their cattle farm. He loved to be outside as a kid and as an adult. He was an avid hunter, outdoorsman, and family man. He was devoted to his children and his family. The Richins family was extremely close – they saw each other multiple times a week and phoned daily. Eugene and Eric were planning to buy a cabin together. Then, Kouri called Eugene on March 4, 2022, and told Eugene that Eric was not breathing. He rushed to Eric’s house and at that point, his sister, Katie was also there. Eugene said that while he was at the house that morning, Kouri wouldn’t talk to him or look at him. Days/weeks later, Kouri told Eugene that she had heard from the medical examiner that Eric had died from a fungus in his lungs – the same way his mom/Eugene’s late wife, Linda, passed. Well, there’s a problem with that… because Eric’s sister, Katie, called the Medical Examiner to confirm and they told her that Kouri had never called and that the results hadn’t been released. Eugene is released and Katie takes the stand.
The defense doesn’t have any questions for cross. Eugene is excused.
❤️Katie Richins-Benson is Eric’s sister. She loved Eric like a best friend – more than a brother. They were extremely tight. They talked all the time – even if it was about mundane things or extremely personal/sensitive things. For example, one time, Eric was hit by a softball and he called Katie at 1am to tell her about it. He was open about his use of testosterone and he was open about the issues in his marriage to Kouri. Very few things, if anything, was off limits to discussion. Prior to Eric, Katie actually owned the home Eric and Kouri lived in. She sold it to them (which will become a sticking point later on…) Katie testified about the night Eric died and how emotionless Kouri was. She said, “I observed she was not how she normally was when we would go on overnights. She was very well put-together. She had a matching pajama outfit on. Her hair was done up. She wasn’t crying like I was. She just stood there and shook her head no at me.” When asked when she should tell the boys that their father had died, Kouri was very detached. Katie said the boys were distraught – one of them had just watched from the windows, his dad’s body being wheeled out of their house and he was extremely upset…When Katie told Kouri that the boys saw that, Kouri turned to her mom, Lisa, and said, “I guess we better tell them.” After she told the kids, one of the sons became upset. Katie went to check on him multiple times. He was on his bed with his covers pulled up and Katie sat on the bed to try and console him. He wanted his mom. Katie told Kouri that she should go in and console him. She asked several times. Finally she said, “Kouri, I’m not his mom. I’m not his dad. He’s very upset. I can not console him. Can you please come in and talk with him.” It was around this time, while Kouri is consoling her son, that Kouri’s brother’s fiance, Breanne Sorensen, asked Kouri about the closing of the Midway Mansion. Katie could not believe that Kouri was still even considering going to close on the house THAT DAY – Katie told Kouri, “‘You can’t tell me you’re going to close on the Midway mansion when my brother just died.’ To which Kouri responded, ‘Yeah, the money went through. My brother has nothing to do with it. I’m going to.’” 🥶
What Kouri did not anticipate was finding out that when Eric died, despite still being married to Kouri, the house was actually in a trust that was controlled by Katie once Eric died. Eric never told Kouri that he did this… imagine Kouri’s surprise.
Then, Katie testified about the funeral arrangements. A family meeting was held the day after Eric died. They decided Eric would be buried beside his mom. They discussed who would speak at the funeral and who would be pallbearers. Then, at the end of the meeting, Lisa, Kouri’s mom, dropped a bombshell on the Richins family and said, “When are we going to talk about Eric wanting to be cremated?” Kouri appeared to be shocked, but then said, “He told me he didn’t want any bugs crawling on him when he was dead. It creeped him out.” Katie asked why they just planned an entire funeral based on a casket if now they’re bringing up cremation.
The defense begins their cross-examination.
They begin talking about the trust Eric created. Nester gives Katie a document – the document is Eric’s living trust that makes Katie the trustee if Eric dies. Kouri was a beneficiary of the trust and so were the boys. Katie’s role as the trustee was to administer the funds and carry out her brother’s wishes. Nester asks Katie if she has been paid by the trust and Katie explains that she is allowed to be paid by the trust for her time but that she has never taken a dime frmo the trust. There will likely be more questions about the trust and Katie’s scope within the trust but to stay within the scope of cross examination as it pertains to the direct examination, they table that for later (I assume.)
Nester asks Katie about her testimony regarding the night Eric died. Katie had testified that Kouri was in a sweatsuit with her hair done up and that she never consoled or hugged Katie while she was there. Nester pokes holes in that by showing body cam footage of Kouri in her pajamas, bending down to hug Katie while Katie is inconsoloble on the floor.
Then, Nester asks Katie if she was aware that Eric used THC gummies occasionally. Katie affirms and iterates that despite their mom being largely against drugs, they didn’t consider THC to be a narcotic.
There is also talk about a private investigator and handwriting samples – which, I’m sure we’ll expand on in later days – but Katie says a woman named Brooke Harrington was hired by the estate and Katie paid her. Brooke was a financial accountant and was paid $14,625. Brooke left for a new job after Kouri was charged. Katie says she did not speak to the prosecutors before Kouri was charged.
It seemed to me like Nester was trying to portray Katie as “out to get” Kouri. Nester asked Katie why she sent a timeline to investigators and Katie responded that it was because she was not an investigator but felt like Eric’s death was suspicious.
On re-direct, Bloodworth asks about the civil lawsuit and who filed it. Katie says Kouri filed it against Katie as the trustee. Katie says Kouri forged Eric’s signature on a HELOC of $250,000 without Eric’s knowledge. Eric also found a bunch of credit cards in his name that he was unaware of.
Katie is excused and from this point on, allowed to stay in the courtroom.
❤️Clint Benson – Katie’s husband/Eric’s brother in law. Clint is the next witness. He works as a realtor as well as a real estate asests manager for Salt Lake City.
After Eric’s death, Clint had a locksmith come into Eric and Kouri’s home to change the locks and he hired a security guard to watch over the house until they were able to get cameras installed. Clint testified that he had taped the doors so that he could tell if any of the doors had been opened. He also had sensors placed throughout the house.
Clint testified about hearing a phone call between Eric and Katie that was on speakerphone back in November of 2020. During this phone call, Eric was very upset. Clint pulled up the Summit County recorder’s website where he pulled up the parcel information on the property. He found a $250,000 home equity line of credit taken out against his house. He told Eric. At this point, divorce was discussed and Clint recommended a divorce attorney.
On cross, defense attorney Wendy Lewis, asked why Clint was corresponding with the divorce attorney on Eric’s behalf and he said that it was because he knew Kouri would be looking at Eric’s emails and didn’t want Kouri to know that he was considering divorce. Lewis also asks Clint if the private investigator they hired to investigate Kouri was paid for by the trust that was supposed to be for the Richins’ three sons – to which he confirmed, yes. This PI was paid $100,000 from that trust.
(Again, I feel like this is the defense’s attempt to prove that the Richin’s family was determined to pin this all on Kouri as part of a greater vendetta against her.)
🚨Next witness is Patrol Deputy Vincent Nguyen. The state reviews the bodycam footage from the night Eric died and asked about his interactions with Kouri that night. Biggest takeaways from his testimony, IMO:
Nguyen was responsible for the crime scene log and “death checklist” at the scene. He was looking for anything that might explain Eric Richin’s death. He says he did not see any THC gummies in the home. He did not see any illicit drugs or drug paraphernalia in the home either. He also says Kouri’s affect was bizarre and that she sounded like she was crying but did not see actual tears. On cross, he was asked how many times he had seen Kouri in a state of shock or distress – he said, none.