PARK CITY, Utah — Following a two-day hearing, a judge has ruled there is enough evidence to bring Kouri Richins to trial for allegedly killing her husband by poisoning him to death.
Judge Richard Mrazik issued his ruling Tuesday afternoon, ordering that Richins be bound over on all charges, including homicide, attempted homicide, forgery and fraud.
Also on Tuesday, Richins entered pleas of “not guilty” to all 11 counts against here.
The hope is to start a trial in May 2025.
During the hearing in the Summit County courtroom, prosecutors called a detective with the Summit County Sheriff's Office to the stand who relayed his discussions with a housekeeper who allegedly sold the fentanyl Richins is accused of using to kill her husband, Eric, in March 2022.
"Our position is still that there needs to be something more when you look at evidence presented in this case," argued Richins' defense attorney, Wendy Lewis.
On Tuesday, the hearing centered around an additional attempted murder charge filed in March that accused Richins of slipping fentanyl into her husband’s favorite sandwich on Valentine’s Day, causing a severe but nonfatal reaction.
Summit County Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth defended the attempted murder charge by describing how he thinks Richins learned lessons during the first unsuccessful attempt on her husband’s life that helped her carry out the killing 17 days later.
"The drug is the same, the drug dealer is the same, the timing is the same, but she learned. She learned the sandwich was not the right method, it takes more," Bloodworth said. "She learns it takes a truckload to kill him, it takes a lot."
Prosecutors also relayed text messages between Richins and her husband, as well as her friend and person with whom she was possibly having an affair.
Richins is accused of poisoning her husband's drink with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl. Before her arrest, Richins had written a children's book on how to deal with grief.
Since her arrest, the case has only become bigger with allegations of that Richins instructed her family on how to testify, along with details of how she had made changes to Eric's life insurance policies before he was killed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
