The Case Against Kouri Richins

Attorney Kathryn Nester presents the Defense's Opening Statements in the Kouri Richins Trial.  Complete coverage of the State of Utah v. Kouri Richins. She's accused of murdering her husband Eric Richins by poisoning him with fentanyl in their Kamas, Utah home in March 2022. The prosecution alleges Kouri researched untraceable poisons, secretly increased Eric's life insurance to $1.9 million, and...

Brad Bloodworth, Deputy County Attorney with the Summit County Attorney's Office  delivers opening statements. Complete coverage of the State of Utah v. Kouri Richins. She's accused of murdering her husband Eric Richins by poisoning him with fentanyl in their Kamas, Utah home in March 2022. The prosecution alleges Kouri researched untraceable poisons, secretly increased Eric's life insurance to $1...

The Kouri Richins murder trial is here. Prosecutors allege she poisoned her husband Eric with fentanyl — first in a Valentine's Day sandwich that sent him reaching for an EpiPen, then in a Moscow Mule that killed him less than three weeks later. Eric had five times the lethal dose in his system. Less than a year later, Kouri was on television promoting a children's book about grief. The digital tr...

The Kouri Richins trial begins February 23rd—and former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis breaks down exactly what both sides are bringing to that courtroom. The defense has landed significant pretrial blows. The drug source recanted. Expert witnesses were excluded. Financial charges were severed from the murder trial. There are witness intimidation allegations against the lead detective. These aren't...

Between Eric Richins' death on March 4, 2022 and Kouri's arrest in May 2023, she made choices that FBI behavioral analyst Robin Dreeke's "Tempo Tells" framework was designed to decode. The 911 call. The media interviews. The children's book promoting Eric as an angel watching over their sons. The television tour. And eventually, the letter found in her jail cell allegedly orchestrating false testi...

Former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis delivers a comprehensive analysis of the Kouri Richins fentanyl murder trial and the Colin Gray parental accountability case — two landmark criminal proceedings testing the boundaries of criminal responsibility. In the Richins case, the defense enters trial with a recanting drug source, excluded prosecution experts, witness intimidation allegations against the...

The positioning started seven years before Eric Richins died. Between 2015 and 2017, prosecutors allege Kouri took out life insurance policies on her husband totaling nearly $2 million—without his knowledge. In late January 2022, weeks before his death, she allegedly applied for yet another policy. For FBI behavioral analyst Robin Dreeke, that long-term pattern tells a story before any other evide...

Forget the pretrial wins. The prosecution is walking into this courtroom with over 100 witnesses, more than 1,000 exhibits, and five weeks of trial to present what they say is an airtight case for premeditated murder. Former prosecutor Eric Faddis breaks down every piece of the state's strongest evidence. It starts with Valentine's Day 2022. Prosecutors allege Kouri tried to kill Eric before — lac...

The murder trial hasn't even started and the defense has already taken pieces off the board. Robert Crozier recanted. Detective O'Driscoll is accused of threatening witnesses. Two prosecution experts were barred. And the 26 financial crime charges the state wanted to use as motive evidence? Severed entirely. Defense attorney and former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis breaks down the defense's strong...

Defense attorney Bob Motta delivers comprehensive legal analysis on three major cases—with deep focus on the Kouri Richins trial beginning February 23rd. Kouri Richins faces charges she allegedly poisoned her husband Eric with fentanyl. The alleged supplier, Robert Crozier, recanted his statement in October 2025—now claiming he sold OxyContin, not fentanyl. No fentanyl was recovered from the Richi...

Trial starts February 23rd. This is everything you need to know about the evidence before opening statements. The prosecution's case: Kouri Richins allegedly poisoned her husband Eric twice—first with an allegedly fentanyl-laced sandwich on Valentine's Day 2022 that left him using his son's EpiPen, then allegedly with a Moscow Mule less than three weeks later. Five times the lethal dose. Medicatio...

Kouri Richins goes to trial February 23rd in Summit County, Utah. Prosecutors allege she poisoned her husband Eric with fentanyl hidden in a Moscow Mule. Defense attorney Bob Motta says the prosecution has more vulnerabilities than the headlines suggest. The alleged fentanyl supplier, Robert Crozier, recanted in October 2025. He now claims he sold OxyContin, not fentanyl, and was "detoxing" during...

Jury selection starts February 10th. Trial begins February 23rd. And the real fights — Crozier's recantation, O'Driscoll's witness texts, a timeline the defense says is impossible — are just getting started. Judge Richard Mrazik denied the defense's second venue change motion, finding a fair and impartial jury can still be seated in Summit County. Prosecutors pointed to 830 potential jurors who sa...

There's an irony in the Kouri Richins case that hasn't gotten nearly enough attention — and it's sitting right inside the defense's own venue change motion. The "Walk the Dog letter" was found in Kouri's jail cell in September 2023. Six handwritten pages addressed to her mother, allegedly laying out what prosecutors describe as fabricated testimony for her brother to deliver at trial. The header r...

Ten days before jury selection begins in her aggravated murder trial, Kouri Richins' name appeared in a place no defendant wants to be — a Department of Homeland Security intelligence bulletin sent to law enforcement agencies nationwide warning that domestic partners are increasingly using poisons to kill. The January 2026 bulletin documented seventeen cases since 2014, at least eleven ending in d...

Two weeks before Kouri Richins faces a jury for allegedly poisoning Eric Richins with fentanyl, the prosecution's supply chain theory just collapsed. Robert Crozier was the key witness. He originally told investigators he sold fentanyl to housekeeper Carmen Lauber—the alleged middle link between the drugs and Kouri. Now he's recanted. Signed affidavit. Says it was OxyContin, not fentanyl. Says he...

The Kouri Richins trial begins in weeks. The defense says key witness Robert Crozier has recanted — now claiming he sold OxyContin, not fentanyl. The prosecution says the totality of evidence still proves murder. Both sides are fighting over texts, timelines, and witness credibility. But there's one test that could cut through all of it. Eric Richins' hair. Forensic hair analysis can detect fentan...

After nearly three years in the Summit County Jail, Kouri Richins finally faces a jury on February 23rd, 2026. Jury selection begins February 10th. The trial is expected to last five weeks. And the case heading into that courtroom is dramatically different from the one prosecutors presented at her arrest. This episode is a complete breakdown of where things stand — what the prosecution has left, w...

Defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis provides comprehensive analysis of the Kouri Richins case heading into trial—plus a deep dive into the Michael McKee murder prosecution in Ohio for comparison. On Richins: Trial begins February 23rd, but the state's case is taking damage. The defense just filed a bombshell motion alleging witness intimidation. Detective Jeff O'Driscoll allegedly t...

Trial begins February 23rd. Seven weeks. Over 100 potential witnesses. Kouri Richins faces aggravated murder charges in the fentanyl poisoning death of Eric Richins. And heading into opening statements, both sides are wounded. Defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis provides comprehensive analysis of the developments threatening to reshape this trial. The witness intimidation motion is...

Fourteen days before jury selection and the Kouri Richins case just got even messier — for the prosecution. In a motion filed Sunday, defense attorneys Kathy Nester and Wendy Lewis accused Detective Jeff O'Driscoll and investigator Travis Hopper of threatening and harassing state witnesses. The filing includes text message screenshots allegedly showing O'Driscoll warning one witness she'd be arres...

Everything you need to know about this week's explosive pre-trial rulings in the Kouri Richins murder case. Judge Richard Mrazik spent two days deciding what evidence will and won't reach the jury when Kouri stands trial next month for the alleged fentanyl poisoning of her husband Eric Richins. The rulings fundamentally reshape this case. Financial crime charges severed — the jury won't hear fraud...

A rooftop sniper and a poisoned cocktail. One case headed for the death penalty. Another hanging by a thread. In this special longform segment, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis joins us for a double-case breakdown: the capital murder prosecution of Tyler James Robinson for the alleged politically motivated assassination of Charlie Kirk—and the bombshell developments in t...

The prosecution’s narrative in the Kouri Richins murder case is suddenly on shaky ground. A bombshell affidavit just dropped: Robert Crozier—once billed as the key to the state’s fentanyl chain theory—now says he never sold fentanyl to the housekeeper prosecutors claim passed it to Kouri. That breaks the chain. And when you consider that no fentanyl was ever recovered, and no forensic link directl...

A rooftop sniper and a poisoned cocktail. One case headed for the death penalty. Another hanging by a thread. In this special longform segment, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis joins us for a double-case breakdown: the capital murder prosecution of Tyler James Robinson for the alleged politically motivated assassination of Charlie Kirk—and the bombshell developments in t...