The Utah grief author convicted of murder after prosecutors said she laced her husband’s cocktail with a fatal dose of fentanyl was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday, on what would have been his 44th birthday.
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Richins, handcuffed in the front and wearing a neon green t-shirt over a grey long-sleeved shirt, addressed her sons who said earlier in victim impact statements they’d feel unsafe if she were ever released.
“I will never be angry at you for your feelings,” she said, telling them that she has been trying to get in contact with them for years. “All I care about is you, boys.”
Richins, 36, then accused her late husband’s family of cutting off her contact with the children.
“You boys are my world. The reason I continue to wake up every day and fight to come home,” she said. “I promise you, boys, one day it will be over.”
In her statement, Richins said she’s “done plenty of things I am not proud of” and told her children that “nobody is all good or all bad.”
“We are not defined by our best or our worst moments,” she said.
She told her children to always protect each other, to choose happiness, and to help others.
“Be like your dad,” she said, crying.
Richins’ sentencing comes two months after she was found guilty 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 — illicit, not medical-grade — and that it had been orally ingested.
Judge Richard Mrazik said he considered the gravity of the offense and struggled with the weight of whether Richins’ sons would come to resent the court for eliminating any chance for their mother to be released. Or perhaps if she was given the option of parole, the judge contemplated whether the boys would feel unprotected.
“It 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,” Mrazik said. “My hope is that every person affected by Eric Richins death will, over time, find their way to a state of peace.”
He continued on to say that he had to consider the information available to him at the moment, which led to his decision to sentence her to life without parole. The sentences to the four other counts in the case are to be served concurrently.
Richins attorneys said they intended to file an appeal for a new trial.
Children say they’re fearful, describe alleged abuse
In the sentencing memo, the couple’s children said they would be fearful if Richins were ever released.
“I’m afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family,” one son, who is now 13, said, according to the memo. “I 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’t miss Kouri, I will tell you that.”
Another son recalled the night of the murder, saying he was put to bed early without a bath — unusual for the family. When he tried to enter his parents’ 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 previously told investigators.
“I will not feel safe” if she is released, he said.
“With [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,” the son said.
The third son, who was in preschool at the time of Eric’s death, said he felt scared that night and wet his pants, the memo states. The child said whenever someone talks about his mother, “it makes me feel hateful and ashamed,” according to the memo.
“She took away my dad,” the son said, according to the memo, adding, “if she got out I would be so scared. … I’m 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.”
All three children have undergone intensive therapy and are being raised by Eric’s sister and her husband, the memo states.
At the hearing, licensed therapists read victim impact statements from the three boys. One child described waking up to sirens on the night Eric died and feeling “scared” and “helpless.”
He also talked about how Richins would “put us in the basement while she was with the neighbor.”
“I felt scared because I thought something really bad was happening again,” the child said in his statement. “She would take me to places that smelled really bad. Everything she did made me feel uncomfortable.”
Another child accused Richins of killing Eric for “greed” and alleged that she would lock one of her sons in their room.
“I would have to go and bring him food,” the child’s statement said. “You took away everything from me and my brothers.”
The 13-year-old child said in his statement that he wanted Richins to get life in prison “because what she did is very sick.”
Richins’ family and friends talked about how much she loved her children, the work she did in the community, and asked the judge for leniency. Richins cried as the statements were read.
Eric’s family says death has been ‘devastating’
Gene Richins, Eric’s father, said in an impact statement that his son’s death was a “permanent hole in our family that will never be filled.” Wednesday would have been Eric’s 44th birthday.
“No parent should ever have to bury their child,” he said. “It’s a loss that changes you forever.”
Eric’s sister, Katie Richins-Benson, cried and said her brother’s death has been “devastating.”
“Nearly every aspect of our lives has been permanently changed, and we have no choice but to live with those changes and Eric’s loss forever,” she said.
Richins stared at her sister-in-law and made faces as she spoke about Richins allegedly trying to take Eric’s money after his death. At one point, Richins leaned over to whisper to her attorney.
Eric’s other sister, Amy Richins, told the court that she had “begged” her brother to divorce Richins, but he would not leave because he “was determined to protect his boys.”
Richins convicted after weekslong trial
Richins was arrested in May 2023, shortly after she appeared on a local television station to promote a children’s book she wrote about grief. In the book titled “Are You With Me?,” a child loses his father and questions whether he is still with him for special moments in his life.
Richins dedicated the book to “my amazing husband and a wonderful father.” The book was eventually removed from Amazon.
During her weekslong trial, friends of Richins and Eric described how the couple had moments of material strife and struggled with infidelity. Allison Wright, whose husband owned a stone masonry business with Eric, testified about a time Richins told her that she felt “trapped” in her marriage because of a prenuptial agreement.
Wright told the courtroom that Richins worried that Eric would be “financially secure, and her the opposite” if they divorced. Richins also had concerns about “how she would be represented by him in the community,” Wright testified.
Another friend, Becky Lloyd, testified that Richins had confided in her about feeling stuck in the marriage.
“She said that in many ways it would be better if he were dead,” Lloyd testified.
Richins’ attorneys tried to undermine Lloyd’s 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 how he got sick after he ate a sandwich his wife had made him on Valentine’s Day 2022. One of the charges against Richins is connected to this incident after prosecutors accused her of poisoning his sandwich in an attempt to kill him. Court documents state that Eric broke out in hives after taking a bite of the sandwich, used his son’s EpiPen, and then took a nap.
Richins’ friend Allie Staking told the court that Eric did not seem upset about what happened. But Eric’s friend, Josh Kraze, testified that Eric was “somber” and “very serious” when he called and told him about the situation. Cody Wright, Eric’s business partner and friend, said Eric had “fear in his voice” when he told him about it.
Richins’ former boyfriend, Robert Josh Grossman, also took the stand, occasionally getting emotional as he talked about the “guilt” and “sorrow” he had about their affair. He told the court that the relationship ended a few months after Eric’s death.
One of the most pivotal testimonies came from Richins’ 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’s Day 2022.
After Eric’s death, Lauber said she spoke to Richins over the phone.
“I said, ‘Please tell me these pills were not for him,’” Lauber testified. “She said, no they were not. Eric passed away from a brain aneurysm.”
Richins did not testify at her trial, and her defense team rested without calling any witnesses.