PARK CITY, Utah (Court TV) — A juror who found Kouri Richins guilty of murdering her husband is speaking out about the experience, saying that the entire panel was hoping to acquit the defendant.
Kouri Richins listens as her 911 call is played during closing arguments in her murder trial. (Court TV)
Kouri Richins was convicted of killing her husband, Eric Richins, with a deadly dose of fentanyl in cocktails she served him one evening in February 2022. Despite the fact that Kouri Richins pleaded not guilty and maintained her innocence throughout the trial, one juror said, “There was never a not guilty check with anything.”
MORE | Kouri Richins’ defense rests without calling a single witness
Juror #2, who served as foreperson of the panel, told ABC’s Good Morning America that the decision to convict came quickly. “Even though it was just three hours, I felt like we came into that deliberation fully loaded to evaluate the case,” the juror, identified only as Laura, told the network. “We had to zoom on these little bits of evidence and ignore the fluff and ignore the drama.”
Laura said that one of the most shocking pieces of evidence was that Kouri Richins authored a children’s book on death after the victim died. Detective Jeff O’Driscoll testified to the book project, showing the jury emails the defendant exchanged with the local producers of “Good Things Utah” as she looked to promote the book. “Everyone felt like they were hit with a truck,” Laura said of the moment the jury saw that evidence. “It was so odd and so strange.”
MORE | Texts show ghostwriter wrote children’s book, not Kouri Richins
Juror #3, identified as Christie, spoke to journalist Nate Eaton about her experience. Christie said she spent much of the trial watching Kouri Richins. “To see her sitting there, I couldn’t get a read on her. I had no idea what the whole scope of the case was, and I remember feeling really sad when I saw her. She seemed like a small, frail woman.”
Recalling specific witnesses, Christie said she was surprised by the testimony of Kouri Richins’ paramour, Josh Grossman. “I was not prepared for how emotional he was going to be,” she said.
While the jury found Kouri Richins guilty in less than three hours, the panel had wanted to acquit the defendant, Laura told ABC. “People were really sad. Because they did not want to find her guilty. They were really hoping that she was innocent. And we couldn’t come to that conclusion and it was really heartbreaking. This devastating reality that this family was torn apart and the poor kids will never have a dad or mom”
