LIVE UPDATES | Closing arguments set on day 15 of Kouri Richins murder trial

Kouri Richins, a Utah mother of three boys, is accused of fatally poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, in 2022. She is on trial in Summit County, Utah, on charges of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, insurance fraud and forgery.

Today is the 15th day of the trial and closing arguments from the prosecution and defense are expected. It is scheduled to begin today at 8:30 a.m. East Idaho News will be posting live written updates all day. Please excuse typos. You can watch the livestream here. The most recent updates are at the top of this page.

11:45 a.m. Motion for mistrial is denied. Jury is being brought in. Judge gives jury instruction about their observations of Kouri’s demeanor. Lunch break until 12:45 p.m. Judge reminds jurors not to discuss the case.

11:41 a.m. Judge is back. He reviews the defense’s request for a mistrial. He says the Black Widow comment was not in reference to an insect; rather, a statement about a woman killing her husband. He responds to the defense’s issue with Bloodworth using the phrase “narcissist.” Judge talks about Kouri’s demeanor and says he can tell jurors to consider their own observations and not Bloodworth. Judge says Bloodworth did not comment on her silence or her right not to testify.

11:31 a.m. Judge needs a moment to collect his thoughts. We are in recess until 11:40 a.m.

11:27 a.m. Nester says Bloodworth made up a bunch of stuff out of whole cloth. Judge asks Bloodworth if he objects to the special instruction he will read that jurors must rely on their own observations of the defendant, not what the prosecutor said about her demeanor.

11:24 a.m. Judge says if Kouri were to have burst out in laughter when a photo of Eric’s dead body was shown, he could not tell the jury not to consider it. Nester says she has no idea what the judge is talking about. He says it’s a hypothetical. She is relieved. Judge says he can read a special instruction for the jury that her demeanor does not mean she is guilty. Judge goes back to the Black Widow statement. He says it’s a statement Chelsea Barney made. Bloodworth says it was in a recorded phone call with Bryce Knutson. Judge says everyone is speculating about what’s in Kouri’s mind.

11:21 a.m. Nester says Bloodworth made incorrect statements and they need to be corrected. Judge asks what points Nester is moving for a mistrial. She says on all of it. Judge asks what points she wants the curative instruction to give to jurors. She says it’s about the drug statements. Judge says the Utah Court of Appeals disagrees with Nester’s objections about Kouri’s demeanor.

11:19 a.m. Kathryn Nester makes a motion for mistrial. She says at multiple points during the closing, Bloodworth made point to “dehumanize” the defendant. “Calling her a black widow and comparing her to a spider.” Nester says it’s improper for Bloodworth to comment on Kouri’s demeanor. She says that’s a comment on Kouri’s failure to testify. Nester says there was “wild speculation” on what was in Kouri’s mind “completely made up by Mr. Bloodworth.”

11:17 a.m. “In listening to defense counsel closing arguments, please only consider the evidence that has been admitted,” Bloodworth says. He is done with his opening statement. Defense attorney asks to address something outside the presence of the jury. Judge excuses jurors.

11:15 a.m. Bloodworth goes through a list of statements made by defense attorneys during the trial. After each statement, Bloodworth says, “There’s no evidence of that.”

11:14 a.m. Bloodworth: “Josh Grossmann loved Kouri Richins. He thought she loved him. You saw him testify. He was gutted. A grownass man gutted.”

11:10 a.m. Bloodworth shows the text messages Kouri sent Grossman the day after the attempted murder where she says she wants to marry Grossman and “if he could just go away, life would be better (referring to Eric). Bloodworth shows messages Kouri was simultaneously sending to Josh and Eric about the Midway closing. She’s very excited in her texts with Josh, but kind of blows Eric off.

11:06 a.m. Bloodworth talks about the fraud on the insurance application and the fact Kouri says she didn’t know where the fentanyl came from, but she knew it came from Carmen Lauber. Bloodworth discusses the forgery charge. “She’s a taker, not an asker,” Bloodworth says. Bloodworth wants to turn to Kouri Richins’ desire for a fresh start.

11:01 a.m. Bloodworth shows insurance documents and changes made to information on the documents. He shows the application for Eric Richins’ life insurance weeks before he died. “Eric did not sign the application. It was probably a simulated forgery,” Bloodworth says, based on the testimony of the handwriting expert.

10:58 a.m. Bloodworth tells jurors Kouri’s motives were money and a fresh start at life with Josh Grossman. The prosecutor now discussing the insurance fraud and forgery charges.

10:54 a.m. Bloodworth reminds the jury about the text message Eric sent to Kouri on Valentine’s Day that he was thinking about going to the hospital. She tells him to take a nap. There is no communication for two hours. Eric thought Kouri was coming home to assist him, Bloodworth says, but instead she was waiting for her cabinet guy in Provo “maybe.”

10:51 a.m. Eric also called his friend Josh and express simliar fears. Bloodworth reminds the jury about Ali Staking’s testimony when she said that Eric joked about his wife trying to poison him. Kouri became defensive, “That is not what happened. It was like an allergic reaction. It wasn’t at all dramatic.” Bloodworth says she was covering up the poisoning.

10:49 a.m. Losing your husband on Valentine’s Day or on the day you’re supposed to close on a big house gets you extra attention – the kind of attention Kouri craved, Bloodworth says. On Valentine’s Day, all activity on Eric’s phone ceases for 87 minutes in the middle of a busy work day after he ate the sandwich. Shortly after activity resumes, he calls Cody Wright, his business partner and best friend. Cody says he could hear the fear in Eric’s voice.

10:46 a.m. Bloodworth shows cell phone tower mapping displaying times of messages between Carmen and Kouri. Carmen got the drugs from the Maverik in Draper. There was active communication with Robert Crozier as well. Kouri called the IRS twice in three days before attempting to murder Eric, according to Bloodworth. She called the Mirror Lake Diner to order “the potentially fatal sandwich.” Kouri ordered it and picked it up herself. Bloodworth points out her signature is one pen stroke – she doesn’t lift the pen off the receipt paper.

10:43 a.m. Bloodworth continues to discuss Kouri’s financial problems. He talks about Kouri trying to poison Eric with a sandwich on Valentine’s Day and “she learned from her mistake.” Eric could tell something was wrong with the sandwich and set it aside. “You throw a lemon drop shot back. By the time Eric knew something was wrong, it was in his body.” Bloodworth says Kouri distanced herself “from the dirty deed.” “She leaves the bedroom when she murders him. She leaves the county when she attempts to murder him…so when she calls 911, she can say she wasn’t even there.”

10:38 a.m. Kouri’s net worth was -$1.6 million when she murdered Eric. Her business was in financial distress and would continue to collapse without an infusion of cash and capital. Bloodworth says the infusion was supposed to be Eric’s money. Bloodworth tells jurors they get to observe Kouri Richins during the case and how she looks during different witnesses. “You observe that when we played the 911 call during trial, her affect was flat. No emotions. You also observed that when Brooke Karrington testified about the financial distress of her business, she was exercised because that testimony pierced her facade. It was a narcissistic injury. She was bothered because the world saw she is indeed not a success and not affluent.”

10:35 a.m. Kouri closed on the Midway mansion the day after Eric died. “Did she close on the Midway mansion in spite of murdering Eric or because she murdered Eric? She hedged. She was supposed to close on the 4th,” Bloodworth says. “She didn’t want to close until she knew Eric was dead because she knew he would have his money, she knew she could do something with the mansion and that’s why she signed on the 5th.”

10:33 a.m. Two days before Eric Richins died, Kouri spent time on the phone with the IRS. Bloodworth shows a picture of the Midway mansion and says, “Kouri Richins needed cash immediately when she murdered Eric.” She wanted to close on the mansion and needed money. “Doesn’t matter if Eric is doing to earn a ton of money down the road. That doesn’t help her now. She needs money now because she’s closing on the Midway mansion on March 4.”

10:31 a.m. Kouri then took out another loan on the house that was foreclosed on. Chelsea Barney was then evicted and had to move out. Kouri underreported her expenses in flipping homes to her tax accountant, which resulted in her paying more taxes than she would have. Bloodworth says a sophisticated business person would think to limit their tax liability. “What interested her was the appearance of success in business, the appearance of affluence. She appeared more successful than she was.”

10:29 a.m. Bloodworth reminds jurors that Kouri took $45,000 from her best friend’s tips and said she would be applying it toward a down payment on a house for her friend. Kouri used the money to pay off a payday lender and spent the remainder on expenses to rehabilitate homes or pay off other debt. “Then telling your best friend since middle school that you applied the money to the loan, here’s the deed, sign the deed, and then not filing it.”

10:27 a.m. Kouri lost nearly $900,000 in flipping homes and that doesn’t count the foreclosures, Bloodworth explains. She lost millions more in foreclosures. Jury will have all the financial documents to review during deliberations. “Kouri Richins would borrow money by any means necessary. Six times she submitted inaccurate bank statements to lenders to get money.”

10:25 a.m. Bloodworth says Kouri had loans with extraordinary interest rates. Eventually, payday lenders would no longer lend to Kouri. She was barely paying towards them. “Kouri Richins lost money flipping homes. She was not a sophisticated business person. She didn’t even understand fundamental accounting, fundamental tax reporting,” Bloodworth says.

10:22 a.m. Break is over. Bloodworth continues questioning and talks about aggravated murder. He says there are two aggravators – the why: money. The how: administering any substance in a lethal amount. He displays a chart that shows Kouri had over $359,453 in overdraft charges and another chart that shows Kouri had nearly $8 million in debt when Kouri closed on the Midway mansion. “All the while, she’s not paying it off. She’s barely sending her creditors any money.”

10:05 a.m. Bloodworth says this might be a good place to take a break. We are in recess until 10:20 a.m.

10:03 a.m. Bloodworth says every shred of evidence in the case proves Eric did not die by suicide. They were making plans to go to Disneyland, he loved his sons and he was planning to buy a cabin with his father in the mountains. Bloodworth says Eric took THC gummies but did not use illicit drugs. Kouri never told anyone, including her boyfriend, that Eric used illicit drugs.

10:02 a.m. Bloodworth points out one particular message that says, “If someone is poisoned, what goes down on the death certificate as.”

10 a.m. Bloodworth shows searches Kouri made on her phone on April 13, 2022. Here’s a sample:

9:57 a.m. In the orange notebook, Kouri said Eric was awake when she went into her son’s bedroom. But she told her friend Chelsea that Eric was asleep when she went into her son’s bedroom. “Her story is inconsistent with the details. That proves that much of it is fake.” Bloodworth mentions the text messages that have been presented during the trial. He says all of the texts were recovered from other phones – not Kouri’s, because they were deleted. “That is part of her cover-up.”

9:55 a.m. Bloodworth says when people make up stories, they are inconsistent in the retelling. He points out an entry in her orange notebook where she says they had the celebratory drink in the bedroom, not the kitchen. In the orange notebook, she said Eric was on the phone when she went into her son’s bedroom around 9:30-9:45 p.m. but Eric’s phone activity tells a different story. He was off the phone before 9 p.m.

9:52 a.m. Bloodworth says she never told EMTs, paramedics, Dr. Christensen or anyone else that she bought fentanyl for Eric, like she mentioned in the letter. “It’s a fake story that she wants her brother to testify.” Bloodworth says there are other inaccuracies in the letter – like how she lost it and went to the bathroom to throw up when the EMT approached her. Bloodworth shows the body camera video and we don’t see Kouri running to the bathroom.

9:50 a.m. Bloodworth mentions the Walk the Dog letter. “There’s a lot to unpack in this…Kouri Richins knows four months after she’s been arrested for Eric Richins’ murder, a year and a half after she’s murdered him, she knows that she bought fentanyl and she has to explain it. And how does she explain it? A year and a half after murdering Eric Richins? She blames it on Eric.”

9:49 a.m. Bloodworth reminds Kouri that, after Eric’s death, she asked Josh Grossman if he had ever killed anybody and how it made him feel. “She asked that because she was working through her own feelings on killing and wanted Josh to help her work through those feelings.”

9:47 a.m. Kouri’s plan with the Midway mansion is consistent with her dream of living there with Josh Grossman – running it and living there with her kids, Bloodworth says. “She had no idea that her home was in a trust and she couldn’t sell it,” Bloodworth says. He says she didn’t understand the buy-sell agreement or the life insurance going to the trust and not her. “The morning Eric died, she had a plan on how to spend Eric’s money, not realizing it was trust money.”

9:44 a.m. Bloodworth says when Kouri called Eric’s dad and sister, she started with, “I wasn’t there. It wasn’t me.” Bloodworth says when asked for her version of events, Kouri began by talking about the drinks. “For Kouri, that’s when it began – with the Moscow mules.”

9:42 a.m. Bloodworth tells jurors to contrast the 911 call to her “self-serving text messages” with her friend Chelsea Barney. “I tried so f***** hard to save him. His lifeless body on my bedroom floor. I pumped so damn hard, so hard, screaming at him to come back to life that I needed him.” Bloodworth: none of that happened. She’s covering up her involvement in murdering Eric Richins.

9:39 a.m. The clock is now over five minutes. The dispatcher repeatedly tells Kouri she needs to start CPR and she needs to get Eric on the floor. Kouri says she has Eric on the floor. Dispatcher tells Kouri how to give CPR and starts counting with her – 1, 2, 3, 4. The CPR time clock stops at 5 minutes 56 seconds.

9:36 a.m. As the 911 call is played, there is a countdown clock running on the screen showing how long Kouri waited to give Eric CPR. We hear the dispatcher giving Kouri instructions on how to give CPR and how to get Eric off the bed. “We just need to help him now.”

9:34 a.m. Bloodworth plays the 911 call. If you haven’t heard it, here’s a link:

9:32 a.m. Bloodworth says it was six minutes from when Kouri was told by the dispatcher to do CPR to when she said she started to do it. Bloodworth says Kouri has “dehumanized” Eric Richins in the call – she says, “I can’t move it” rather than, “I can’t move him.” “Eric is no longer a him. She murdered him. Eric is an it.”

9:30 a.m. Bloodworth pivots to the 911 call Kouri made the night Eric died. “Listen to how Kouri Richins, on the 911 call, immediately presents her alibi narrative. Listen to how she tells the 911 dispatcher where she was when Eric died. She is distancing herself,” Bloodworth says. He says she was coming up with her alibi. She’s distancing herself from the time and the place that she murdered Eric, Bloodworth says. When the 911 operator asked her to perform CPR, she says she didn’t know how and couldn’t move him. “She is not immediately trying to revive him,” he says.

9:27 a.m. Bloodworth says Kouri claimed she was in her son’s bedroom and found Eric dead, but there is no evidence she was in the son’s bedroom. He points out the activity on her cell phone that morning and says she could have called someone on Wifi and the phone records would not have pointed that out. Wendy Lewis objects based on facts not in evidence, judge immediately says, “Overruled. Please have a seat.”

9:24 a.m. Bloodworth reminds jurors of a witness who says the fentanyl was illicit, not prescription. Bloodworth pays part of the phone call Kouri had with Dr. Eric Christensen. Bloodworth says Kouri Richins recorded the conversation with Christensen. She was prescribed Quetiapine, but she asks Christensen what it was because it was found in Eric’s body. “She feigns the ignorance,” Bloodworth says.

9:22 a.m. Bloodworth points out that the cause of death from the death certificate was fentanyl. “We know that Eric ingested the fentanyl from the Moscow mule, the lemon drop shot, or both,” Bloodworth says. All the medical experts testified that an extraordinary amount in Eric’s stomach indicates oral ingestion.

9:20 a.m. Bloodworth says evidence proves Kouri killed Eric with a Moscow mule and lemon drop shot. She wrote about it in her orange notebook journal, which Bloodworth says he will discuss more later.

9:16 a.m. Bloodworth says digital forensics shows Kouri communicated with Carmen to get the drugs. He shows the mapping and part of the timeline. There was an “extraordinary” amount of communication between Kouri, Carmen, and Robert, Bloodworth says.

9:15 a.m. She doesn’t know how to get the drugs, but she wants it because they are lethal and fatal. “She wants lethal and fatal.” Bloodworth shows part of the jailhouse interview detectives did with Robert Crozier, the man who obtained the drugs and gave them to Carmen.

9:12 a.m. Bloodworth explains the charges to the jury and breaks down the evidence in each charge by pointing out different aspects in a slide presentation. He shows the New York Life Insurance policy and reminds jurors about Kouri changing the beneficiary information on Cody Wright’s insurance policy. She didn’t understand the policy, so she changed it back. Bloodworth says Kouri asked two people – Hayden Jeffs and Carmen Lauber – for some Michael Jackson drugs.

9:08 a.m. Bloodworth says the evidence proves that Kouri Richins caused the death of Eric Richins by purchasing illicit street drugs from Carmen Lauber.

9:06 a.m. Bloodworth shows the five counts on the screen. He says he will go count-by-count and element-by-element to show how the state has met its burden of proving them.

9:05 a.m. Kouri created a facade of being a perfect businesswoman. She gambled other people’s money and more. Her business was in trouble. “All the while, Kouri Richins was more interested in spending time with Josh Grossman than Eric. She dreams of living in the Midway mansion with Josh, running it as an event center, farming it and raising kids. But she did not have the money to leave Eric.”

9:02 a.m. Bloodworth begins by saying Kouri Richins’ father went to prison and her mom was an alcoholic. Kouri wanted to appear privileged. She met Eric, a successful businessman who had money. They had three kids and “Kouri Richins was on her way.” But she was unhappy. She wanted to leave Eric Richins “but did not want to leave his money.” Their prenuptial agreement meant she left him, she would leave his money. Kouri took $250,000 in equity out of Eric’s home without him knowing so she could start her own business and earn enough money to leave Eric.

9:01 a.m. Jury instructions are over. Summit County Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth will now begin his closing arguments.

8:58 a.m. Defendant has been charged with more than one crime. It’s the jury’s duty to consider each of the crimes separately. A verdict is one charge should not determine the verdict on any other charge. Every single juror must agree with the verdict before the defendant is found guilty or not guilty. They must be unanimous. Methods of chance cannot be used such as drawing straws or flipping a coin.

8:57 a.m. Count 4 – insurance fraud. Count 5 – forgery.

8:54 a.m. Count 3 – insurance fraud – Kouri Richins, with intent to deceive or defraud, intentionally devised a scheme to obtain something of value exceeding $5,000.

8:53 a.m. Count 2 – attempted aggravated murder – Kouri Richins attempted to intentionally or knowingly cause the death of Eric Richins.

8:50 a.m. Judge explains the charges. Count 1 – aggravated murder – Kouri Richins intentionally and knowingly caused the death of Eric Richins. Judge says each and every element must be proven beyond reasonable doubt to prove Kouri committed the crime.

8:47 a.m. Judge tells jurors that they should not consider law enforcement testimony above the testimony of other witnesses. The judge says that because the defendant didn’t testify does not mean she’s guilty, and that shouldn’t be considered during deliberations.

8:45 a.m. Judge reminds jurors that defendant is on trial for the crimes charged in this case. They can not convict her for other acts that may have been committed at other times. He explains the difference between fact witnesses and expert witnesses.

8:43 a.m. Judge says if there is a real possibility the defendant is not guilty, jurors must not find her guilty. Mrazik explains the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence. If someone looked outside and saw it was raining, that would be direct evidence that it was raining. Circumstantial evidence would be if someone saw the ground was wet and people were closing their umbrella.

8:41 a.m. Judge explains testimony by people who have been given immunity. Carmen Lauber and Robert Crozier were both given immunity in exchange for their cooperation with prosecutors and their testimony. Judge says someone given immunity can be prosecuted for perjury if they lied on the stand. Judge reminds jurors that the fact the defendant has been charged with a crime is not evidence of guilt.

8:39 a.m. Judge explains what jurors should consider when it comes to witness testimony. Jurors don’t have to believe everything witnesses said – they can believe all, part or none of the testimony. Nobody’s memory is perfect – honest people may remember the same event differently.

8:36 a.m. Judge tells jurors they have to follow his instructions even if they disagree with the instruction. Closing arguments are not evidence and jurors are to rely on their memory of the evidence. Judge says he is neutral – if he has done or said anything that appears he favored one side or the other, that was not intentional. Eric Richins’ father, sisters and other family members are in the courtroom. Kouri Richins’ mom is in the courtroom.

8:34 a.m. Judge will begin by reading jury instructions. Jurors are welcome to follow along. He skips to instruction #13 – says the first 12 were given before opening statements. Judge explains prosecution will go first for closings, then defense, then prosecution will get a rebuttal. Judge says jurors have two main duties – decide what the facts are from the evidence and apply the law to the facts to decide if prosecution has found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

8:31 a.m. Judge says when it’s time for deliberations, the jury will get a computer that contains the evidence. The computer will not be able to connect to the internet. Jury walks into the courtroom.

8:29 a.m. Judge Mrazik on the bench. He asks Prosecuting Attorney Brad Bloodworth if he’s ready to proceed with closing arguments. He is. Defense team is also ready. Jurors are being brought into courtroom.

8:27 a.m. Packed courtroom this morning. Kouri Richins family received 24 wristbands to attend and Eric Richins family also received 24 wristbands. Ten journalists are on the front row, so the courtroom is full.