Sons of Utah author convicted of murder worry their mother would hurt them if she was ever freed

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The young sons of Utah author Kouri Richins said before her sentencing hearing Wednesday that they would not feel safe if their mother was released after she is released from prison. Found guilty of murdering their father in March.

Richins, 35, faces life in prison for five felonies, including aggravated murder.

Her husband, Eric Richins, spiked her cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near the ski town of Park City in 2022, prosecutors said. He later published a children’s book about a boy trying to cope with his father’s death shortly before his arrest in 2023.

Richins’ attorneys declined to comment Tuesday ahead of her husband’s sentencing hearing, which falls on the day he would have turned 44.

Testimony from his sons, who were ages 9, 7 and 5 when their father died, came with a note from prosecutors urging Judge Richard Mrazik to sentence Richins to life in prison without parole.

The oldest child, now 13, said he wanted the court to know he didn’t miss his mother.

“I’m afraid that if he gets out, he’ll come after me, my siblings, my whole family,” he said. “I guess he’ll come and get us and not do good things like hurt us.”

Prosecutors allege the boy suffered emotional and physical abuse from Richins after his father’s death, which they say is supported by findings from the Utah Department of Children and Family Services in a sealed court document.

Prosecutors said Richins was a housekeeping real estate agent who was millions in debt and was planning a future with another man. She had opened numerous life insurance policies without her husband’s knowledge and believed that she would inherit his assets worth more than $4 million after his death.

An aggravated murder conviction alone carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison or life without parole. Prosecutors did not press for the death penalty.

Jurors also found Richins guilty of other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder, for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Valentine’s Day. fentanyl laced sandwich This knocked him out.

The Richin family’s middle child, now 11, has denied his mother’s claim that she slept with him in his bedroom the night his father died. He recalled unusual events from that night, including being put to bed early without bathing, his parents’ bedroom being locked, and the television blaring from inside. The boy said his mother yelled at him to leave after he used the broom to reach his bedroom key, and Richins later told the 911 operator that she found her husband cold.

The 11-year-old boy told the judge he was upset that his father could no longer take him camping and fishing, coach him in sports or meet important milestones. Like his brother, he said he wouldn’t feel safe if his mother wasn’t behind bars.

“With him in prison, I can continue to feel safe and live a happy and successful life without fearing that he will harm me or anyone I love,” the statement said.

The youngest son said he feels “hate and shame” when people talk about his mother because “she took away my father.” He said he would be “very scared” if his mother was released from prison.

The boy, whose current age was not specified in the note, said, “When he is gone, I will feel happy, I will feel safer and more comfortable, and I will trust people more.”

Richins also faces more than two dozen money-related charges in a separate case that has not yet been tried.