{"id":5920,"date":"2026-05-13T18:32:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=5920"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:32:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:32:35","slug":"utah-woman-who-published-a-book-on-grief-after-husbands-death-to-be-sentenced-for-his-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=5920","title":{"rendered":"Utah woman who published a book on grief after husband\u2019s death to be sentenced for his murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM<\/strong><\/p>\n

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) \u2014 A Utah mother who published a children\u2019s book about grief after the death of her husband and was later found guilty of killing him finds out Wednesday how long she will spend in prison.<\/p>

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Kouri Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing her husband\u2019s cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Richins, a 35-year-old real estate agent with a house-flipping business, was millions in debt and planning a future with another man. She had opened numerous life insurance policies on her husband Eric Richins without his knowledge and falsely believed she would inherit his estate worth more than $4 million after he died.<\/p>\n

Eric Richins\u2019 father, Eugene Richins, urged Judge Richard Mrazik to impose a life sentence without the possibility of parole to protect his grandsons, who were ages 9, 7 and 5 when their father died.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sentence is important so Eric\u2019s three sons never have to live with the fear that the person responsible for taking their father could ever harm them again,\u201d he said during the sentencing hearing, which fell on the day his son would have turned 44.<\/p>\n

Jurors also found Richins guilty of four other felonies, including attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Valentine\u2019s Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich.<\/p>\n

Richins faces several decades to life in prison. She has been adamant in maintaining she is innocent. Her attorneys said she would take the stand later Wednesday after waiving her right to do so during the trial.<\/p>

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In a letter read by a defense attorney, Richins\u2019 mother, Lisa Darden, maintained that her daughter is not capable of murder and asked, \u201cfrom a mother\u2019s heart, that Kouri be given a sentence that allows the possibility of a future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case captivated true-crime enthusiasts when Richins was arrested in 2023 while promoting her children\u2019s book \u201cAre You with Me?\u201d about a boy coping with the death of his father.<\/p>\n