THE author of a children’s book about grief who was convicted of killing her husband has been handed a life sentence after addressing her sons in court who begged the judge to lock her up.
Kouri Richins, 35, became emotional as she admitted to making mistakes in the past, including during her marriage, as she spoke during her sentencing hearing on Wednesday.
Richins stared off into the distance as she was handed a life sentence without parole on Wednesday after being found guilty of murdering her husband with a Moscow Mule filled with fentanyl in March.
Richins, a mother of three, arrived to court on Wednesday, which would have been her husband’s 44th birthday, dressed in a bright green prison outfit.
Two months before her arrest in 2023, she self-published a children’s book, about a child dealing with grief after losing his father, titled, Are You With Me?
Eric was fatally poisoned on March 4, 2022 and an autopsy report revealed that he had five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system when he died.
The judge overseeing the case said his sentencing decision came from a “place of genuine concern” for her and Eric’s three sons in the future as their view of the case may evolve as they grow up.
“Kouri Richins was convicted unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt of attempting to murder Eric Richins, her husband and the father of their three children,” Judge Richard Mrazik said as he further explained his reasons behind Richins’ sentence.
“And then, having failed in her first effort, [she spent] the next 17 days, not changing course but doubling down, preparing to try again and ultimately completing the act through the administration of poison.
“And for what? Money. All for pecuniary gain.
“A person convicted of committing that sequence of acts, in that way, and for that reason, and who causes the absolutely tragedy that has befallen Eric Richins sons and family, a person convicted of those things is simply too dangerous to ever be free.”
Eric’s sister Amy appeared to sigh in relief behind Richins as the judge announced the sentence.
Richins has the right to file an appeal and must do so within 30 days.
Richins was given a chance to speak during her sentencing where she addressed her “sweet baby boys” saying she was taking the opportunity in her jail clothes to speak with them after contact was cut in 2024 once their father’s sister adopted them.
“The one thing I need you boys to know, I did not abandon you. I did not just walk out of your lives one day to never return, to nerve call, to never show up,” she said between tears, later apologizing that they have to go through this.
“I will never be angry at you for your feelings,” she said.
During the sentencing hearing, victim impact statements were read on behalf of the three sons by their social workers.
“You have never said sorry for anything you have done to me and my brothers,” her 11-year-old son, A.R., wrote in his victim impact statement.
Her eldest son, C.R. wrote, “I miss my dad, but I don’t miss Kouri.”
Each of the three children asked the judge to sentence their mother to life in prison without parole.
“I think Kouri should get a life sentence because what she did is very sick,” C.R., 13, wrote.
The youngest son, W.R., 9, wrote, “once she is gone I will feel happy and I will feel safer and relaxed.”
Richins wiped away tears with a tissue and sniffled as she repeatedly told her boys on Wednesday how she never would have taken their dad from them.
“I’m not perfect. I have succeeded, and I have failed – as a person, as a wife, as a parent,” Richins said.
“We all do. I have done plenty of things I’m not proud of. Some I regret, some I don’t. Some I’m ashamed of, and some I’m not.”
Richins admitted to marital problems and an affair during her statement, saying they both wanted to throw in the towel at times, but their love “never failed.”
“I fell in love with someone who wasn’t your dad. Your dad fell in love with someone who wasn’t me,” Richins revealed.
“I’m broken, broken without your dad, broken without you boys,” she cried. “God did not put me in this world to take a life. God put me in this world to give life, your lives.”
“I would have never taken him from you, from us,” she said as she called Eric the glue that held the family together.
She said she is “still in disbelief” at her conviction, and hearing the words murder and attempted murder out loud still makes her stomach turn.
Richins has been jailed since 2023 in Summit County, Utah, roughly 86 miles outside of Salt Lake City.
During her trial, the jury also found Richins guilty of attempting to poison her husband with a sandwich laced with fentanyl a month before his death.
Police bodycam footage was shown on the first day of her trial, where Richins was seen telling officers how she touched her husband’s cold body in bed after she woke up at 3am.
Before her husband’s death, Richins piled on $4.5million in debt across different failed business ventures.
Prosecutors said Richins mistakenly assumed she would collect a $4 million estate in the event her husband died.
The court was previously told that she planned to runaway with her handyman lover, Robert Josh Grossman, to start a new life after collecting the money.
Eric’s stepfather, Gene Richins called him “an incredible father to his three boys,” during victim impact statements.
“They didn’t just see him as a dad, they saw him as their best friend, their coach, their mentor, their protector.”
Eric’s sister, Katie Richins-Benson said during the hearing that her brother “knew that his sons did not like,” their mother.
“He knew that they would prefer to be far away from her.”
Richins was seen looking shocked as her sister-in-law, Katie, gave an impact statement.
Amy Richins, one of Eric’s sisters, said in court that she “begged” Eric to leave his wife.
“I begged Eric to divorce her. But Eric was determined to protect his boys,” she said.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16355585/kouri-richins-life-sentence-killing-husband/