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Closing Arguments Set in Trial of Utah Children’s Book Author Charged with Killing Her Husband

Kouri Richins faces aggravated murder and insurance fraud charges after allegedly poisoning her husband with fentanyl, amid claims she was $4.5 million in debt, prosecutors said.

  • On Monday, legal teams begin closing arguments after the defense waived testimony last week in the Utah trial of Kouri Richins.
  • Prosecutors say Richins was $4.5 million in debt and opened life insurance policies totaling about $2 million while texts and searches showed fantasies of wealth and leaving her husband.
  • Prosecutors detail the alleged poisonings and earlier attempt, alleging Richins slipped five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a cocktail that killed Eric Richins in March 2022 at their home just outside Park City and earlier tried to poison him with a fentanyl-laced sandwich.
  • A conviction on aggravated murder would carry 25 years to life, but Richins' defense attorneys argue prosecutors failed to prove guilt after the multiweek trial.
  • Defense lawyers attacked the credibility of the prosecution's star witness Carmen Lauber, noting she initially denied dealing fentanyl and later changed her account after investigators informed her of the cause of death.
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Closing arguments set in trial of Utah children's book author charged with killing her husband

Lawyers are scheduled to make closing arguments at the trial of a Utah woman who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband and was later accused of killing him.

·United States
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Kouri Richins became nationally known when she published a children's book about grief after the death of her husband. Now she is charged with killing him.

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Associated Press News broke the news in United States on Monday, March 16, 2026.
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