KAMAS, UTAH: A lawyer has questioned the email sent by Kouri Richins to clarify points raised by the lead investigator looking into her husband Eric Richins' death. The 33-year-old children’s book author was arrested on May 8 after she allegedly poisoned her husband Eric with fentanyl at their home in Kamas. Following Eric's death on March 4, 2022, the medical examiner discovered five times the amount of fentanyl in his system than what is considered fatal.
The mother-of-three has been charged with counts of criminal homicide, aggravated murder, and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. A month before her arrest, Kouri Richins allegedly sent an 'clarifying email' to Summit County investigators to address claims that she took "exotic vacations" after her husband’s death. In the email, the real estate agent also claimed her spouse “did not want me working” and wrote about topics relating to her marriage, including her mental health, finances, medications, and Eric’s alleged affair. Kouri also peppered the email with exclamation marks and several emoticons.
What did Kouri Richins write in her email?
In her email, Richins addressed questions about why she took lavish holidays to Salt Lake City, Spain, and Mexico while grieving her husband’s death. “You asked about any exotic vacations I have taken since Eric’s passing. I went on two trips last year. One, my kids tried out at a soccer camp in SLC [Salt Lake City] to qualify to play in Spain in June and both my kids made it. So yes, I took them to Spain in October 2022. I have attached their invitation letters,” read one message. Elsewhere in the mail, Richins wrote that “I took my kids and my mom came with us in August of 2022 to Mexico. As I hope you understand, the months prior to this since Eric’s death have been hard to deal with.”
Richins continued by claiming that Eric always desired a "typical conservative life" in which she served as the homemaker. “Eric did not want me working because one, his first wife, cheated on him with a guy at work,” she wrote, adding “Eric wanted us to live the typical conservative life where the man takes care of his family and the wife is a homemaker, wife, mom and that’s it.” Following that, she wrote about her husband's claimed affair, stating that she never truly "moved out" of their house but rather promised to do so to pressure Eric to end the purported affair.
What did the lawyer say about Richins’ email?
Duncan Levin, a prominent criminal defense attorney, and Managing Partner of Levin & Associates, PLLC, spoke to The Sun about Richins' freshly released email and how it could impact her case. He stated that although the email's content didn't seem out of the usual and didn't contain "explicitly incriminating information or illegal activities," there is still more to look at. “It's a truth about e-mail that it is very hard to read tone over e-mail," he said, adding “There are a lot of people who use emojis now, which is probably a generational thing. They don't know that we can read a lot into it from an evidentiary perspective. Tone needs to be explained to the extent that the emails are standalone pieces of evidence.”
Levin further stated that while the emails appear to be written in a cordial manner, it's more difficult to understand why Kouri may have chosen that tone. "It could be for any number of reasons that it's friendly, could be friendly because it's friendly. It could be friendly to try to trick. It's very hard to tell what the friendliness is about,” the lawyer said. He also noted that the jury will thoroughly examine Richins’ emails. "At the end of the day, jurors are called to use their common sense, and things like that are certain things that the jury will look at and be asked to use their common sense about how people act after somebody that they supposedly love dies,” he asserted.
