A Utah mother who published a children's book about grief after the sudden death of her husband has been found guilty of his murder.
A jury found that Kouri Richins killed her husband in March 2022 by poisoning him with a fentanyl-laced drink. The jury deliberated the case for about three hours before reaching its verdict on Monday.
During the trial, the court heard how Richins, 35, had racked up millions of dollars in debt, had taken out life insurance policies on her husband, and was having an extramarital affair.
Prosecutors called more than 40 witnesses, including the woman who said she sold the drugs used to kill Eric Richins.
Her defense team chose to not call any witnesses, and rested their case without having her take the stand to testify in her own defense.
Richins was also found guilty of fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after her husband's death at their home outside the ski resort town of Park City. Prosecutors said during the trial that she falsely believed she would inherit his estate worth more than $4m after he died.
Officials said Richins was found to have poisoned her husband's sandwich in an earlier incident, nearly killing him, before later increasing the dosage until he died. She was also found guilty of attempted murder over this incident.
Richins pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The most serious, aggravated murder, carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
She wanted to leave Eric Richins but did not want to leave his money, said Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth.
Richins was arrested in March 2023 - two months after she published the picture book *Are You With Me?*, which she said was designed to help people - including her three children - cope with the death of a loved one.
She dedicated the book to her husband, calling him my amazing husband and a wonderful father.
She received hydrocodone pills, the court documents said, before she requested something stronger - some of the Michael Jackson stuff, asking specifically for fentanyl.
According to court documents, Richins texted a person who had previously been arrested on drug charges asking for prescription pain medication. Three days after she allegedly obtained the drugs, she and her husband had a Valentine's Day dinner, after which he fell ill. Eric believed that he had been poisoned; he told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him. Two weeks later, according to court documents, Richins acquired more fentanyl.
On March 4, 2022, she called the police in the middle of the night to say she had found her husband unresponsive. A medical examiner later found Mr Richins died from a fentanyl overdose, with five times the lethal dosage of the drug in his system.
