SALT LAKE CITY — The Summit County woman who made headlines after being charged with the murder of her husband won't face the death penalty.
State prosecutors filed documents announcing their intent not to seek the death penalty against Kouri Richins.
Richins was charged in May with aggravated murder after allegedly poisoning her husband, Eric, nearly a year earlier. The arrest came months after she had written a children's book on dealing with the grief of losing a loved one.
Kouri told police that she had made her husband an alcoholic beverage and brought it to him in their bedroom. Later that night, she said she felt Eric and claimed he was "cold to the touch."
An autopsy showed Eric had died from an overdose of fentanyl on March 4, 2002, with the medical examiner claiming the level of the drug in his system was approximately five times the lethal dosage.
