Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- The Utah Supreme Court declined Kouri Richins' appeal contesting a decision to not move the trial to Salt Lake County.
- Prosecutors asked to lift a stay and schedule a murder trial for Richins.
- Richins was scheduled for a trial in April on charges of fatally poisoning her husband; the trial was delayed for the appeal.
PARK CITY — Prosecutors asked a judge to lift a stay and schedule a jury trial in Kouri Richins' Summit County murder case after the Utah Supreme Court declined Richins' request to review a decision — a request that led to the delay of her April trial.
The Utah Supreme Court issued its decision Friday after reviewing Richins' request for an appeal of Judge Richard Mrazik's decision to keep her trial in Summit County rather than move it to Salt Lake County and prosecutors' response.
In the short document, it cited rule 5 of Utah's appellate court procedure which says it should only grant an interlocutory appeal, or an appeal of a decision that is not the final outcome of the case, if the order being appealed involves "substantial rights" and may have a large impact on the final decision in a case.
Richins, a Kamas mother and real estate agent, is charged with fatally poisoning her husband. She was arrested a year after his death, and in that year published a children's book featuring their children dealing with grief.
Deputy Summit County attorney Margaret Olsen filed a request to set a hearing where a new trial can be scheduled along with other case deadlines later on Friday. Richins' attorneys had not yet responded on Tuesday.
Mrazik denied the request to move the trial to Salt Lake County weeks before it was scheduled to start in Summit County, but granted the request to delay the trial while Richins' attorneys filed the appeal.
He reviewed motions and heard arguments about multiple community surveys and media coverage when considering whether Richins could have a fair trial with a Summit County jury. Ultimately, he determined a fair jury could be found in Summit County.
He said much of the media attention was from Salt Lake County outlets, both Kouri Richins and her husband grew up outside of Summit County and the population of Summit County is not homogenous.
Richins' attorneys, Kathy Nester and Wendy Lewis, said in a statement on Tuesday that they are still concerned publicity has given potential jurors false impressions about the case.
"We are confident that when the jury is ultimately selected and hears the true facts and gets to know the kind of wife, mother and person Kouri is, that they will believe in her innocence as much as we do," they said.
Richins, 35, is charged with murder in the March 2022 death of her husband, Eric Richins, who was 39. She was later charged with attempting to murder him weeks earlier on Valentine's Day.
She was ordered to stand trial on the charges of aggravated murder and attempted murder, both first-degree felonies; two counts of distributing a controlled substance, two counts of insurance fraud and two counts of filing a fraudulent insurance claim, all second-degree felonies; and three counts of forgery, a third-degree felony.
Richins will face a separate trial for two counts of mortgage fraud, a second-degree felony, and two additional counts of forgery, a third-degree felony.
