Attorneys for Utah children’s author Kouri Richins, who is charged with murdering her husband, are asking a judge to move her trial out of Summit County, arguing that intense publicity and her own notoriety have made it impossible to seat an impartial local jury.
TLDR
Defense lawyers for Utah children’s author Kouri Richins are seeking to move her upcoming murder trial, citing heavy local publicity, a limited jury pool, and alleged witness intimidation, while prosecutors maintain she poisoned her husband with illicit fentanyl in 2022.
Pretrial Publicity and the Venue Fight
Richins, a mother of three who later wrote a children’s book about grief, has pleaded not guilty to charges that she poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, at their home in March 2022. The case has drawn sustained local and national attention, including detailed coverage of the alleged poisoning and her book deal.
In a venue motion filed in February 2024, her defense team argued that pretrial publicity has saturated Summit County. According to reporting by Fox News, jury questionnaires cited in the filing show that more than 85% of potential jurors recognized the case, and roughly 60% said they followed it closely.
Once potential jurors who acknowledged familiarity with the case or indicated bias or other disqualifying concerns are removed, defense attorneys say the eligible pool drops to about 72 people. For a felony trial that will require eight jurors and four alternates, they argue, that is not enough.
The motion quotes defense counsel as writing that “with a jury pool of less than 100 jurors, it will be nearly impossible for Ms. Richins to receive a fair trial by a jury of her peers.” Under Utah law, judges can move a trial if they find that pretrial publicity or community sentiment threatens a defendant’s right to an impartial jury.
The filing also warns that some prospective jurors may not realize how familiar they are with the case until specific evidence is discussed in court. The defense points in particular to a document referred to as the “walk the dog letter,” arguing that references to such details during jury selection could prompt additional jurors to recognize the case and be excused, shrinking the pool further.
To seat a jury of eight plus four alternates, the defense estimates the court will need at least 43 qualified jurors. The motion contends that reaching that number in Summit County is unlikely, given the number of prospective jurors who have already reported familiarity with the case, strong opinions about Richins, or hardships that would prevent them from serving.
Allegations of Witness Intimidation
The venue request is one of several recent defense filings. In a separate motion, described by Fox News, Richins’ attorneys accused members of the prosecution team of witness intimidation. They allege that a key witness was threatened with arrest and jail time if she did not cooperate with investigators.
Those claims have not been resolved in court. The judge has not publicly ruled on the intimidation allegations or on whether any remedy, such as limits on witness questioning or sanctions, might be warranted. Prosecutors’ detailed responses to the accusations were not included in the reporting cited in the venue motion.
Together, the change-of-venue request and the intimidation allegations frame a defense strategy that focuses heavily on process. Rather than only contesting the underlying poisoning allegations, Richins’ attorneys are asking the court to scrutinize how investigators, prosecutors, and the broader community have handled the case in the almost two years since Eric Richins’ death.
The Alleged Poisoning and Financial Motive
Prosecutors allege that in March 2022, while the couple was celebrating at their home, Richins prepared a drink for her husband that was laced with illicit fentanyl. A medical examiner later determined that Eric Richins had more than five times the lethal amount of fentanyl in his system, according to charging documents summarized by Fox News.
The same documents state that his gastric fluid contained 16,000 ng/ml of quetiapine, an antipsychotic medication that is sometimes prescribed as a sleep aid. Prosecutors have not publicly alleged that quetiapine alone caused his death, but say its presence is one part of a broader picture of drug use and impairment on the night he died.
Authorities also contend that the March 2022 incident was not the first attempt on Eric Richins’ life. Court records, as described in the reporting, allege that weeks earlier, on Valentine’s Day 2022, Richins slipped fentanyl into his favorite sandwich. Eric Richins reportedly broke out in hives and struggled to breathe, used his son’s EpiPen, then took Benadryl before sleeping for hours. He survived that episode.
Prosecutors say the alleged motive was financial. They assert that Richins bought multiple life insurance policies on her husband, totaling nearly $2 million, and later changed the beneficiary to herself without his authorization. Charging documents say Eric Richins discovered the change and moved the beneficiary designation back to his business partner.
Investigators further allege that Richins planned to use potential life insurance proceeds to finish and flip a $2 million mansion in Wasatch County. Eric Richins’ relatives have told investigators that he did not approve of that real estate investment, according to the court filings summarized in news reports.
Public Image, Book Deal, and Jury Perception
Beyond the specific allegations, Richins’ public image has become part of the legal battle. After her husband’s death and before her arrest, she published a children’s book about grief, presenting herself as a widow helping her children cope with loss. That book, and the interviews she gave about it, helped propel the case into the national spotlight once charges were filed in May 2023.
Defense attorneys argue that this sequence of events has created an unusual combination of sympathy, suspicion, and familiarity among potential jurors. Residents may know Richins as an author and bereaved spouse, as a defendant in a high-profile poisoning case, or both. The defense maintains that those overlapping narratives increase the risk that jurors in Summit County will bring strong, untested views into the courtroom.
Courts often rely on detailed questioning during jury selection, called voir dire, to identify and remove biased jurors even in well-known cases. The Richins defense team acknowledges that tool, but says questionnaires and initial responses already show that traditional safeguards may not be enough in this instance, given the high percentage of people familiar with the case.
What Comes Next in the Richins Case
According to Fox News, jury selection in Richins’ trial is scheduled to begin on February 10th, 2024, with opening statements set for February 23rd, 2024, before Judge Richard Mrazik. As of the latest filings described publicly, the judge had not ruled on the motion to move the trial or on the separate witness intimidation allegations.
If the court grants the change of venue, the trial could be moved to a different county with a larger or less saturated jury pool. If the request is denied, the parties will attempt to seat a jury in Summit County through expanded questioning and careful screening of potential jurors who have followed the case.
Whatever the venue decision, the trial will center on two starkly opposed narratives. Prosecutors say Richins methodically poisoned her husband to solve financial problems and pursue a real estate project he opposed. Richins maintains that she is innocent, has pleaded not guilty, and says she has been unfairly judged in the court of public opinion.
The pending rulings on venue and alleged witness intimidation will determine not only where the jury hears those competing accounts, but also how much weight the court gives to claims that pretrial publicity and state conduct have already reshaped the search for justice in Eric Richins’ death.
