U.S.|Utah Children’s Book Author Who Poisoned Husband Will Spend Life in Prison

A Utah mother of three, who wrote a children’s book about grief after murdering her husband, received a sentence of life in prison without parole on Wednesday.

Kouri Richins, 36, also faced convictions and consecutive sentences on four other charges — attempted murder, two counts of falsifying insurance claims and one count of forgery.

“A person convicted of those things is simply too dangerous to ever be free,” Judge Richard Mrazik said.

Prosecutors had argued that Ms. Richins had poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, in 2022 to inherit more than $4 million from him and receive about $2 million from life insurance policies that she had opened without his knowledge.

The sentencing came on what would have been her husband’s 44th birthday. Ms. Richins, who maintained her innocence throughout the trial, said she planned to appeal the verdict.

Ms. Richins was found guilty in April, capping a yearslong courtroom saga that caught national attention. On March 3, 2022, prosecutors said, Ms. Richins spiked a cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl that she had bought from a housekeeper. She then served it to her husband at their home outside Park City, Utah. The couple was meant to be celebrating the closing of a real estate deal by Ms. Richins.