August M
An American children’s book writer who published a story about grief after her husband’s death has been sentenced to life in prison for his murder.
The sentencing took place Wednesday in Park City, Utah, after a jury earlier this year convicted 36-year-old Kouri Richins of poisoning her husband with fentanyl, according to Dr. News.
Fatal poisoning
According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, Judge Richard Mrazik ruled that Richins posed too great a danger to ever be released.
Prosecutors said Richins killed her husband, Eric Richins, in 2022 by giving him a drink containing a fentanyl dose five times higher than the lethal level.
Court documents cited by American media said she had also attempted to poison him weeks earlier by putting fentanyl in a sandwich. He became seriously ill but survived that incident.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is significantly more powerful than morphine and is commonly associated with deadly overdoses in the United States.
Financial motive
According to prosecutors, Eric Richins’ death allowed his wife to inherit around four million dollars from his estate. Authorities also said she had secretly taken out life insurance policies on him and later collected another two million dollars in payouts.
Richins had publicly spoken about grief following her husband’s death and released the children’s book “Are You With Me?” which she said was written to help her three sons cope emotionally.
Throughout the case, Richins denied murdering her husband.
Emotional testimony
During Wednesday’s hearing, Richins addressed her children in court.
“I’m devastated. Devastated without your father. Devastated without you boys,” she said, according to the Tribune.
She also admitted that both she and her husband had been unfaithful during their marriage.
“Secrets destroy self-respect. I fell in love with someone who wasn’t your father. Your father fell in love with someone who wasn’t me,” she said.
Statements from her children were also presented in court through psychologists. According to US media, one son said he would not feel safe if his mother were released, while another described her as frequently intoxicated.
“I miss my father, but I don’t miss what my life used to be like,” the boy said.
Sources: DR News, Salt Lake City Tribune, AP
