Utah author, mother charged with killing husband asks judge to dismiss case

SALT LAKE CITY — Kouri Richins, a mother accused of fatally poisoning her husband last year, asked the judge to dismiss her case because a “fair trial in this case is no longer possible,” according to court records.

Richins’ attorney filed a 52-page motion to dismiss in Third District Court on Wednesday citing prosecutorial misconduct. The state “violated its ethical duty by falsely and publicly claiming that Ms. Richins is guilty of witness tampering” and that the state violated a gag order regarding the ‘walk the dog’ letter found in her jail cell, according to allegations in the motion.

The motion requests the court disqualify the Summit County Attorney’s Office (the investigative and prosecutorial agency), change of venue, and suppress all evidence related to “Walk the Dog Letter,” and to remove the “State’s false claim that Ms. Richins had engaged in witness tampering” from jury instruction.

Richins, 33, was first arrested in May 2023 for the murder of her husband, Eric Richins, 39. Eric Richins was found dead in 2022 of a fentanyl overdose. Kouri Richins told police that she and her husband were celebrating and she made him a mixed drink before bed the evening before he died.

After her husband’s death, Richins wrote a children’s book about dealing with grief after the death of a loved one. In June, a judge ordered that Richins remain in custody as the court case moves forward.

Kouri Richins is charged with first-degree felony, aggravated murder, but will not not face the death penalty if convicted. Most recently, the state additionally charged Richins with witness tampering in September.