The case of children's book author and accused murderer Kouri Richins will go to trial, a judge ruled Tuesday.
District Court Judge Richard Mrazik determined there was probable cause for charges of aggravated murder and distribution of a controlled substance, following a two-day preliminary hearing, according to KTVX-TV, CNN, and ABC News.
Richins pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Prosecutors argued the mom of three was motivated to poison her husband of nine years, Eric Richins, with a fatal fentanyl-laced cocktail in March 2022 because she was having an affair.
"...if he [Eric] could just go away ... life would be so perfect," Richins allegedly texted her lover weeks before she purportedly killed Eric, prosecutors said, according to the network.
"And then two weeks later, she assured her paramour, life is going to be different. I promise, hang in there until Friday," prosecutor Brad Bloodworth said. "On Friday, Eric Richards is dead."
"I mean, this was not a perfect couple," defense attorney Kathy Nester shot back. "They didn't have the perfect relationship. But to take a context, one single text, and to say that that gives you a reasonable belief that she tried to kill him the day before, I don't see the connection at all."
Eric died after ingesting five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at the family's Kamas, Utah, home, according to a medical examiner.
Richins later went on to publish a children's book on grieving, titled, Are You With Me?
The trial is slated to begin April 2025.
