Kouri Richins, 35, allegedly killed her husband Eric, 39, in Park City, Utah, in May 2022, by lacing a Moscow Mule cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl

Prosecutors said the suspect who amassed a $4.5million debt flipping houses, erroneously believed she would be the beneficiary of her husband’s $4million estate

In the face of a mountain of circumstantial evidence, the mom-of-three has maintained her innocence

Monday’s court proceedings was, thrown into turmoil after an individual in the gallery was spotted sketching members of the jury

A juror alerted staff at the Summit County Courthouse in Park City, the sketches were seized, the person thrown out and barred from returning 

Utah realtor and author, Kouri Richins [photo] is on trial charged with felony aggravated murder, attempted criminal homicide, and two counts of fraudulent insurance claims in the death of her husband four years ago

The murder trial of a Utah woman accused of killing her husband with a poisoned cocktail was thrown into turmoil after an individual in the gallery was spotted sketching members of the jury.
The disruption unfolded during the trial of Kouri Richins, 35, the wealthy Utah mother-of-three who allegedly murdered her husband Eric Richins, 39, four years ago in Kamas, Utah.
She later wrote a children’s book about coping with grief, gaining even more renown through her media tour promoting the book.
Judge Richard Mrazik said a juror alerted staff at the Summit County Courthouse in Park City to the spectator’s unusual behavior by slipping a note to a bailiff.
‘Judge, are there members of the audience in the courtroom sketching members of the jury?’ the note said.
‘Is that allowed without consent? It’s distracting and concerning, please advise.’

Kouri Richins, [left], prosecutors said, killed her husband Eric Richins, [right], in Park City, Utah, on May 4, 2022, by lacing a Moscow Mule cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl – a crime motivated by financial greed, prosecutors said

Court staff would later confirm that the person was identifying the sketches by juror number.
Judge Mrazik said the person, who was not identified, was removed from the courtroom and would not be allowed back in. 
The sketchbook was confiscated and the drawings depicting the jurors removed. 
Jurors were told of the situation by a bailiff so they would ‘not have to speculate’ about whether the surreptitious sketching had continued. 

Judge Richard Mrazik, [photo], had an individual in the audience during Kouri Richins’ trial kicked out after sketching members of the jury, during court proceedings

Audience members are not allowed to sketch jurors because of concerns about jury safety and fears they could be threatened or pressured.
Kouri Richins has maintained that she is innocent in the face of the accusation that she laced a Moscow Mule cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl, in March 2022, pled not guilty to killing her husband.
She has been charged with aggravated murder, attempted criminal homicide, two counts of fraudulent insurance claims and forgery. 
Kouri Richins was $4.5 million in debt and incorrectly thought that she would inherit her husband Eric’s more than $4 million estate if he died, prosecutors claimed.
‘The evidence will prove that Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life,’ Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told the court.
‘More than anything, she wanted his money to perpetuate her facade of privilege, affluence and success.’

The offender was removed from the Summit County Courthouse in Park City. The notebook of sketches was seized and the drawings of the jurors removed

Richins signed a prenuptial agreement before marrying businessman Eric in 2013, which states she could claim some of his assets, such as his 50 percent stake in a masonry business, if he died before her.
However, the agreement said she would not get anything in the event of a divorce.
In the years before allegedly killing her husband, Richins opened multiple life insurance policies on him without his knowledge.
The benefits from those totaled about $2 million, according to prosecutors.
Two months earlier Kouri Richins changed Eric’s joint life insurance policy, which he shared with his business partner, so that she was the only beneficiary. The men discovered and reversed her fraud without telling her.
Eric communicated to family and friends the fear his wife would kill him ‘for the money’, telling them she would be responsible in the case of his untimely death

Kouri Richins allegedly got into debt flipping home. In March 2019, she opened a bank account with a $250,000 line of credit without telling Eric who found out a year later when he discovered the bank account, a $100,000 withdrawal from his own account and $30,000 in debt on his credit card. Her total debt was $494,000. She failed on her promise to pay back

After her husband’s death Richins carried on with her life, taking trips to Spain and Mexico.
Notably, she released a children’s book in March 2023 about grief titled Are You With Me?
The book, which turned Richins into a local celebrity, was about a father who watched over his young son after passing away.
Richins said that she penned the book to help her three sons understand their father’s death.
She penned a note to the Summit County Sheriff’s Department the following month, complaining that the ongoing investigation was affecting her life.
Richins was arrested and charged with her husband Eric’s murder, which she has repeatedly denied. 

Richins opened multiple life insurances for her husband Eric without his knowledge in the years preceding his death. Allegedly, she racked up $4.5million in debt and believed that she would inherit Eric’s estate, valued at more than $4million, at his death. However, Eric placed all of his assets in a trust for his children. The trust, controlled by his sister, was also the beneficiary of his $500K life insurance policy

During opening statements, Summit County Deputy Attorney Brad Bloodworth read aloud a series of text messages he said were exchanged between Richins and Robert Josh Grossman, identified in court as her boyfriend.
The texts referenced getting millions in a divorce and subsequently marrying Grossman.
In one message sent the day before Eric’s death, Richins allegedly wrote: “If I was divorced right now and asked you to marry me tomorrow, you would?”
Weeks earlier, she sent another message: “If he could just go away, and you could just be there, life would be so perfect,” prosecutors said.
Richins’ Internet search history was also shown to jurors in court.
She had looked up ‘Can cops force you to do a lie detector test?’ and ‘luxury prisons for the rich America’, according to prosecutors.
Richins was also accused of attempting to poison her husband on Valentine’s Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich that caused him to black out.

Richins signed a prenup before marrying businessman Eric in 2013.It states she could claim some of his assets, such as his 50 percent stake in a masonry business, if he precedes her in death. However, she gets nothing in the event of a divorce. She’s charged with her husband’s murder, which she has denied. This bodycam footage displayed on a screen in court was recorded after the alleged murder.  

Her attorneys reiterated their client’s innocence and insisted that she is a ‘mother who wants to go home to her children.’
‘We are confident this jury will make that possible,’ the statement from her attorneys read.
‘Kouri has waited nearly three years for this moment: The opportunity to have the facts of this case heard by a jury, free from the prosecution’s narrative that has dominated headlines since her arrest.
‘Now the state must prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt. What the public has been told bears little resemblance to the truth.
‘We welcome the courtroom, where evidence is bound by rules, not sensational coverage.’
Richins’ trial is set to continue at the Summit County Courthouse in Park City until March 26. If convicted, she could face life in prison.