Park City, Utah – Lawyers are expected to make closing arguments on Monday trial A Utah woman who published a children’s book about grief after her husband died and was later charged with his murder.
What was scheduled to be a five-week trial was cut short last week when the accused was cut short Corey Richins She waived her right to testify and her legal team abruptly ended his case without calling any witnesses. Richins’ lawyers said they were confident prosecutors had not presented enough evidence over the past three weeks to convict her of murder.
Prosecutors say Richins, 35, slipped five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a cocktail she prepared for her husband, Eric Richins, causing his death in March 2022 at their home outside the affluent ski town of Park City.
She is also accused of fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after her husband’s death, and of attempting to kill him weeks earlier on Valentine’s Day in Sandwich laced with fentanyl Which led to him fainting, and other felonies, according to court documents. Richins has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The most serious charge – aggravated murder – carries a penalty of 25 years to life in prison.
Prosecutors are aiming to push back their argument that Richins killed her husband for his money while planning a future with another man she was seeing on the side.
The defense is expected to say that the prosecution’s case is full of holes and leaves a lot of speculation.
Prosecutors said Richins, a real estate agent who focused on flipping houses, was $4.5 million in debt and mistakenly believed that if her husband died she would inherit his estate worth more than $4 million. Prosecutors alleged that she opened several life insurance policies for her husband without his knowledge, with benefits totaling about $2 million.
They showed the jury text messages between Richins and Robert Josh Grossman, the man with whom she allegedly had an affair, in which she fantasized about leaving her husband, earning millions in a divorce and one day marrying Grossman.
The digital forensics analyst showed internet search history from Richins’ phone, which included “what is the lethal dose of. fetanyl (sic)”, “luxury prisons for rich america” and “if someone is poisoned (sic) what is on the death certificate”.
Shortly before her arrest in May 2023, Richins herself published a children’s book about grief to help her sons process the loss of their father. She promoted the book “Are You With Me?” on local television and radio stations, which prosecutors cited in arguing that Richins planned the killing and tried to cover it up.
Summit County Coroner Jeff O’Driscoll, the lead investigator in the case, testified that Richins paid a ghostwriting company to write the book for her.
O’Driscoll said the Sheriff’s Office received an anonymous package shortly after Richins’ arrest containing the book and a note: “There are two sides to every story. This is a real Corrie, a devoted wife and loving mother. I think you should know.”
Investigators later learned from Amazon that Richins’ mother had sent the book.
Defense attorneys sought to discredit the prosecution’s witness, Carmen Lauper, the family’s housekeeper who claimed to have sold Fentanyl Richens on multiple occasions.
Richins’ attorney, Wendy Lewis, said Lauber did not handle fentanyl and had a motive to lie for legal protection. The defense noted that Lauper said in early interviews that she had never handled synthetic opioids, but later said she did so after investigators informed her that Eric Richins had died of a fentanyl overdose.
Investigators said the housekeeper was already in a drug court program as an alternative to incarceration on other charges when authorities arrested her in connection with the Richins case. She also violated some conditions of the drug court.
The defense showed a video of law enforcement officials warning Lauper that they might withdraw her drug court deal and that she could face a long prison sentence.
“Give us the details that will ensure Cory is convicted of murder,” a man said in the video.
Lauber received immunity for her cooperation in the case. She testified that she felt the need to “step up and take responsibility for my role in this matter.”
Prosecutors showed the jury excerpts from a letter found in Richins’ prison cell that they said included testimony from her mother and brother. In the six-page letter, Richins asked her brother to tell her former attorney that Eric Richins confided in him about getting fentanyl from Mexico and “getting high every night.”
Defense attorneys said the letter contained a fictional story that Richins had been working on. They argued that Eric Richins was addicted to painkillers and asked his wife to buy him opioids.
However, Richins told police on the night of her husband’s death that he had no history of using illegal drugs, according to body camera footage shown in court.