A Utah courtroom was left stunned after children’s book author Kouri Richins offered her three young sons a bizarre piece of advice during her sentencing hearing for the homicide of their father, Eric Richins.
In her formal allocution statement on Wednesday, May 13, the 35-year-old repeatedly urged the boys to “be like your dad,” despite being convicted of taking his life.
Highlights
- Kouri Richins shocked the courtroom by urging her sons to “be like your dad” during her sentencing for his homicide.
- The emotional hearing came as her three young sons reportedly expressed fear of their mother and called for maximum punishment.
- Kouri was found guilty of fatally poisoning Eric Richins and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The remarks came as Kouri was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, on what would have been Eric’s 44th birthday.
“It’s probably her last conversation with them, and she spends it lying. What a horrible person,” fumed one netizen.
Kouri Richins urged her three sons to “be like your dad,” the same man for whose homicide she was convicted and sentenced
Image credits: Trent Nelson - Pool/Getty Images
Trigger Warning: This article contains sensitive content that may be distressing for some readers.
In 2022, Kouri Richins cut her husband Eric Richins’s life short by allegedly spiking his Moscow Mule cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl, reportedly intending to inherit his roughly $5 million estate.
Following her husband’s passing, she published a popular children’s book in early 2023 titled Are You with Me?, which centered on a young boy coping with the sudden loss of his father.
She was arrested in May 2023, and according to evidence presented during the trial, prosecutors argued that Kouri’s primary motives were severe financial desperation and a desire to start a new life with another man.
Image credits: Kouri Richins
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On March 16 of this year, she was found guilty on all five counts against her, including first-degree felony m*rder, attempted m*rder, forgery, and insurance fraud, in connection with Eric’s passing.
During her sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Kouri reportedly used her 40-minute allocution statement as her only opportunity to deliver a direct message to her sons, aged 13, 11, and younger, hoping they would eventually see or read it in the future.
Following her arrest, temporary custody of the boys was transferred to Eric’s family in May 2024, who reportedly blocked Richins from calling, visiting, or sending letters to the children.
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In her statement, the convicted author attempted to challenge the narrative her children had allegedly been exposed to, calling the allegations against her “completely wrong” and “an absolute lie.”
According to the New York Post, she said, “My sweet baby boys, I know that today you don’t want to speak with me, have a relationship with me… and that’s okay. I will never be angry at you for your feelings… I need you boys to know and understand that I have been desperately trying to get into contact with you, that all communication with you has been cut off since early 2024.”
“I will do whatever it takes for you to hear the truth from me and to come home to you,” the convicted author told her children
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“All I care about is you boys. I will do whatever it takes for you to hear the truth from me and to come home to you… I did not abandon you. I did not just walk out your lives one day, never return to never call, never show up, regardless of what anyone tells you. I would never, ever, and I am so sorry.”
Kouri added, “And one day, when this is all over, we can sit down and talk about all of this, sort it all out. I promise you, boys, one day it will be over.”
“God did not put me in this world to take a life,” she stated. “Just because someone may not be perfect, that’s a far reach for them to be capable of m*rder, to k*ll someone.”
Image credits: KSLNews
“As much as you’ve been influenced into thinking that dad was m*rdered, that I took your dad from you, that is completely wrong. An absolute lie.”
Richins also refused to apologize for what she claimed was a crime she did not commit, telling her sons, “Never apologize for something you didn’t do, never admit to something you didn’t feel and never beg for mercy for something you didn’t do.”
She further encouraged the children to embrace their father’s personality and interests, saying, “Love the outdoors. Find your peace, your therapy, your heart and soul on the top of a mountain somewhere… be like your dad.”
Image credits: Kouri Richins
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Kouri also revealed that she plans to appeal the verdict, saying, “I can beat myself up all day about how I could have been a better person or made better personal choices, but m*rder? No, absolutely not. I will not accept that and I will not be blamed for something I did not do.”
“I would have never taken him from you, from us … I know how much you need him, how much you love him.”
Kouri was found guilty of fatally poisoning Eric Richins and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole
Image credits: Kouri Richins
The mother of three further stated that she “can’t give you boys the answers you want the most. I can’t give you something I don’t have, an explanation that I just don’t know.”
Richins also spoke extensively about her relationship with Eric and, at one point, abruptly claimed, “Your dad was in physical pain, a lot of physical pain. Just because people didn’t want to see certain things doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
For the first time publicly, she admitted to being unfaithful during the marriage, telling her sons that she had "fell in love with someone who wasn’t your dad” and claimed that, conversely, “your dad fell in love with someone who wasn't me.”
Image credits: Kouri Richins
“Don’t keep secrets, always put your spouse first. Your dad and I didn’t always do that.”
She also reflected on the challenges in their marriage, stating, "Marriage is hard... and you may think about divorce. And you will have fights... sometimes your dad would want to throw in the towel on our marriage.”
Despite the infidelity and tension in their marriage, Kouri insisted that her relationship with Eric ultimately survived the turmoil, saying, “Our love never failed. We stopped keeping track of each other’s wrongdoings and we forgave and we moved on and we loved.”
In their victim impact statements, the three boys urged maximum punishment, citing what they described as absolute fear of their mother
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Her courtroom remarks stood in stark contrast to the emotional victim impact statements delivered by Eric’s family and the couple’s three sons.
Counselors reportedly read statements from the boys, revealing that they live in what they described as absolute fear of their mother.
The eldest son expressed, “I’m afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family. I think she would come and take us and not do good things to us, like hurt us.”
The middle child told the court that his mother remaining imprisoned was necessary for him and his siblings “to continue to feel safe and live a happy and successful life without fear” of her hurting him or anyone he loves.
The youngest wrote, “[When] someone talks about Kouri it makes me feel hateful and ashamed. She took away my dad… Once she is gone I will feel happy and I will feel safer and relaxed and trust people more.”
In addition to the aggravated m*rder conviction, Richins is also facing a separate upcoming trial involving more than two dozen alleged financial crime charges that have not yet been tried in court.
“Imagine growing up and realizing the person comforting you through grief was allegedly the one who caused it,” one user wrote
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