{"id":210626,"date":"2026-05-14T02:37:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T02:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/utah-grief-author-convicted-in-husbands-poisoning-death-to-be-sentenced-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T02:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T02:37:16","slug":"utah-grief-author-convicted-in-husbands-poisoning-death-to-be-sentenced-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/utah-grief-author-convicted-in-husbands-poisoning-death-to-be-sentenced-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah grief author convicted in husband\u2019s poisoning death to be sentenced – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

WATCH LIVE: Trump and Xi Jinping meet in Beijing. NBC News is on the ground.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
The Utah grief author convicted of murder after prosecutors said she laced her husband\u2019s cocktail with a fatal dose of fentanyl was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday, on what would have been his 44th birthday.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
Kouri Richins, handcuffed in the front and wearing a neon green T-shirt over a long-sleeved gray shirt, addressed her three sons, who said earlier in victim impact statements that they would feel unsafe if she were ever released.
\u201cI will never be angry at you for your feelings,\u201d she said, telling them that she has been trying to get in contact with them for years. \u201cAll I care about is you boys.\u201d
Richins, 36, then accused her late husband\u2019s family of cutting off her contact with the children.
\u201cYou boys are my world, the reason I continue to wake up every day and fight to come home,\u201d she said. \u201cI promise you boys one day it will be over.\u201d
In her statement, Richins said she has \u201cdone plenty of things I am not proud of\u201d and told her children that \u201cnobody is all good or all bad.\u201d
\u201cWe are not defined by our best or our worst moments,\u201d she said.
She told her children to always protect one another, to choose happiness and to help others.
\u201cBe like your dad,\u201d she said, crying.
Richins was found guilty<\/a> in March of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, fraud and forgery in the March 4, 2022, death of Eric Richins. She told investigators that they had been celebrating a business deal when she found him unresponsive in the bedroom of their home.
A medical examiner determined that Eric had five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system \u2014 illicit, not medical-grade \u2014 and that it had been orally ingested.
State District Judge Richard Mrazik said he considered the gravity of the offense and struggled with the weight of whether Richins\u2019 sons would come to resent the court for eliminating any chance for their mother to be released or, perhaps, the boys would feel unprotected if she were given the option of parole.
\u201cIt is simply not possible for anyone, not even those young men, to know how their view of this case may evolve over the next several decades,\u201d Mrazik said. \u201cMy hope is that every person affected by Eric Richins death will, over time, find their way to a state of peace.\u201d
He said he had to consider the information available at the moment, which led to his decision to sentence her to life without parole. The sentences on the four other counts are to be served concurrently.
Richins\u2019 attorneys said they intended to file an appeal for a new trial.
The Summit County Attorney\u2019s Office described it as a \u201csomber\u201d occasion.
\u201cIt is a day to remember and honor Eric Richins and all those who loved him and feel his loss,\u201d it said in a brief statement.
In the sentencing memo, the couple\u2019s children said they would be fearful if Richins were ever released.
\u201cI\u2019m afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family,\u201d said one son, who is now 13, according to the memo. \u201cI think she would come and take us and not do good things to us, like hurt us. … I miss my dad, but I do not miss how my life used to be, I don\u2019t miss Kouri, I will tell you that.\u201d
Another son recalled the night of the murder, saying he was put to bed early without a bath \u2014 unusual for the family. When he tried to enter his parents\u2019 bedroom that night, his mother yelled at him to go away, according to the memo. He also said his mother did not sleep in his room that night, contradicting what she had told investigators.
\u201cI will not feel safe\u201d if she is released, he said.
\u201cWith [her] in jail, I will be able to continue to feel safe and live a happy and successful life without fear of [her] hurting me or anyone I love,\u201d the son said.
The third son, who was in preschool at the time of Eric\u2019s death, said he felt scared that night and wet his pants, the memo says. The child said that whenever someone talks about his mother, \u201cit makes me feel hateful and ashamed,\u201d according to the memo.
\u201cShe took away my dad,\u201d the son said, according to the memo, adding that \u201cif she got out I would be so scared. … I\u2019m worried that she would take me away. … Once she is gone I will feel happy and I will feel safer and relaxed and trust people more.\u201d
All three children are being raised by Eric\u2019s sister and her husband and have undergone intensive therapy, the memo says.
At the hearing, licensed therapists read victim impact statements from the three boys. One described waking up to sirens on the night Eric died and feeling \u201cscared\u201d and \u201chelpless.\u201d
He also talked about how Richins would \u201cput us in the basement while she was with the neighbor.\u201d
\u201cI felt scared because I thought something really bad was happening again,\u201d the child said in his statement. \u201cShe would take me to places that smelled really bad. Everything she did made me feel uncomfortable.\u201d
Another child accused Richins of killing Eric for \u201cgreed\u201d and alleged that she would lock one of her sons in their room.
\u201cI would have to go and bring him food,\u201d the child\u2019s statement said. \u201cYou took away everything from me and my brothers.\u201d
The 13-year-old child said in his statement that he wanted Richins to get life in prison \u201cbecause what she did is very sick.\u201d
Richins\u2019 family and friends talked about how much she loved her children and the work she did in the community and asked the judge for leniency. Richins cried as the statements were read.
Gene Richins, Eric\u2019s father, said in an impact statement that his son\u2019s death was a \u201cpermanent hole in our family that will never be filled.\u201d Wednesday would have been Eric\u2019s 44th birthday.
\u201cNo parent should ever have to bury their child,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a loss that changes you forever.\u201d
Eric\u2019s sister Katie Richins-Benson cried and said her brother\u2019s death has been \u201cdevastating.\u201d
\u201cNearly every aspect of our lives has been permanently changed, and we have no choice but to live with those changes and Eric\u2019s loss forever,\u201d she said.
Richins stared at her sister-in-law and made faces as she spoke about allegations that Richins tried to take Eric\u2019s money after his death. At one point, Richins leaned over to whisper to her attorney.
Eric\u2019s other sister, Amy Richins, told the court that she had \u201cbegged\u201d her brother to divorce Richins but that he would not leave because he \u201cwas determined to protect his boys.\u201d
Richins was arrested in May 2023<\/a>, shortly after she appeared on a local television station to promote a children\u2019s book she wrote about grief. In \u201cAre You With Me?\u201d a child loses his father and questions whether he is still with him for special moments in his life.
Richins dedicated the book to \u201cmy amazing husband and a wonderful father.\u201d The book was eventually removed from Amazon.
During her weekslong trial<\/a>, friends of Richinses described how the couple had moments of material strife and struggled with infidelity. Allison Wright, whose husband owned a stonemasonry business with Eric, testified about a time Richins told her that she felt \u201ctrapped\u201d in her marriage because of a prenuptial agreement.
Wright told the courtroom that Richins worried that Eric would be \u201cfinancially secure and her the opposite\u201d if they divorced. Richins also had concerns about \u201chow she would be represented by him in the community,\u201d Wright testified.
Another friend, Becky Lloyd, testified that Richins had confided in her about feeling stuck in the marriage.
\u201cShe said that in many ways it would be better if he were dead,\u201d Lloyd testified.
Richins\u2019 attorneys tried to undermine Lloyd\u2019s testimony by playing a recording of Lloyd telling someone that she could not confidently say on the stand that Richins wanted her husband dead.
Other friends testified about a time Eric told them that he got sick after he ate a sandwich his wife made him on Valentine\u2019s Day 2022. One of the charges against Richins is connected to that incident after prosecutors accused her of poisoning his sandwich in an attempt to kill him. Court documents say Eric broke out in hives after he took a bite of the sandwich, used his son\u2019s EpiPen and then took a nap.
Richins\u2019 friend Allie Staking told the court that Eric did not seem upset about what happened. But Eric\u2019s friend Josh Kraze testified that Eric was \u201csomber\u201d and \u201cvery serious\u201d when he called and told him about the situation. Cody Wright, Eric\u2019s business partner and friend, said Eric had \u201cfear in his voice\u201d when he told him about it.
Richins\u2019 former boyfriend, Robert Josh Grossman<\/a>, also took the stand, occasionally getting emotional as he talked about the \u201cguilt\u201d and \u201csorrow\u201d he had about their affair. He told the court that the relationship ended a few months after Eric died.
Some of the most pivotal testimony came from Richins\u2019 housekeeper, Carmen Lauber, who testified about purchasing illicit pills for her in early 2022. Lauber told the courtroom that Richins asked for pills on three occasions, including days before Valentine\u2019s Day 2022.
After Eric died, Lauber said, she spoke to Richins over the phone.
\u201cI said, \u2018Please tell me these pills were not for him,\u2019\u201d Lauber testified. \u201cShe said, no they were not. Eric passed away from a brain aneurysm.\u201d
Richins did not testify, and her defense team rested without calling any witnesses.
Minyvonne Burke is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WATCH LIVE: Trump and Xi Jinping meet in Beijing. NBC News is on the ground. news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeThe Utah grief author convicted of murder after prosecutors said she laced her husband\u2019s cocktail with a fatal dose of fentanyl was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday, on what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":210627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-210626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}