2026年5月13日 / 美国东部时间下午5:29 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
犹他州母亲科里·里奇斯因用掺有芬太尼的鸡尾酒谋杀丈夫被判有罪，周三，也就是丈夫的生日，她被判处终身监禁且不得假释。里奇斯曾在2022年丈夫去世后，因撰写一本关于悲伤的儿童读物而声名狼藉。
犹他州地区法院法官理查德·姆拉齐克在主持里奇斯的刑事审判后宣布了这一判决，他表示，犯下里奇斯所犯罪行的人“实在过于危险，永远不应被释放”。
“科里·里奇斯在排除合理怀疑的情况下被一致裁定谋杀未遂罪名成立，受害者是她的丈夫、三个孩子的父亲埃里克·里奇斯，”姆拉齐克在解释判决时说道。“随后，在第一次尝试失败后，她在接下来的17天里不仅没有收手，反而变本加厉，准备再次作案，并最终通过投毒完成了犯罪行为。这一切是为了什么？金钱。”
控方始终主张判处其终身不得假释，主要理由是里奇斯的三个孩子“永远不应担心有一天会与她碰面”。相反，辩方则争取判处其可申请假释的刑期。
里奇斯还因两项保险欺诈罪名被判处1至15年监禁，伪造文件罪名最高可判5年有期徒刑，谋杀未遂罪名则面临5年至终身监禁。姆拉齐克在宣布终身不得假释的判决前先公布了这些刑期，并表示这些刑罚将连续执行。
里奇斯的律师表示，他们计划对判决和定罪提出上诉，并请求延长通常为14天的申请重审期限，姆拉齐克批准了这一请求，将期限延长至28天。
“今天是一个令人悲痛的时刻。我们在此缅怀和纪念埃里克·里奇斯，以及所有爱他、为他的逝去感到悲痛的人，”检察官在判决后的一份声明中说道。
2026年5月13日周三，科里·里奇斯与辩护律师温迪·刘易斯在帕克城第三地区法院出席量刑听证会。特伦特·纳尔逊/《盐湖论坛报》通过美联社联合通讯社供图
里奇斯在审判期间并未出庭作证，但周三她发表了约30分钟的讲话，主要是对她的孩子们说的。
“我知道今天你们不想和我说话，甚至恨我。没关系。当你们准备好的时候，我会一直在这里等你们，”她说道。
现年35岁的里奇斯于3月被判多项重罪罪名成立，包括加重谋杀罪和加重谋杀未遂罪。检察官表示，2022年3月，在帕克城郊外的家中，她给已故丈夫埃里克·里奇斯端去了一杯掺有致命剂量芬太尼的莫斯科骡子鸡尾酒。法庭文件显示，这杯酒中的阿片类药物含量几乎是致命剂量的五倍。
里奇斯还被裁定保险欺诈和伪造文件罪名成立，据称她在丈夫去世后的第二天签署了一项数百万美元的房地产交易文件。她对所有指控均不认罪。
“我无法相信这一切是真的，”里奇斯在周三向法庭发表的后续讲话中说道。“我被定罪剥夺了生命中最让我感到充实的人之一。我至今仍处于震惊之中，不敢相信。被指控，如今又被定罪犯下如此令人发指的罪行。我再也见不到我的儿子们了。”
尽管已被定罪，里奇斯仍坚称自己不是杀人犯，她说：“尽管你们被诱导认为我是杀人犯，是夺走你们父亲的人，但这完全是错误的。这绝对是谎言。”
“我不会为我没有做过的事承担罪责，”她说道，并誓言将对定罪提出上诉。
“所以拜托，我知道现在你们可能不相信我，你们坚信是我带走了你们的父亲，这没关系，”她说。“我至今并且永远都会爱你们，我请求你们不要放弃我。我会回家的。不是今天，不是今年，但我们会纠正这一切。我们的司法系统会做出公正的裁决，尽管这个法庭似乎做不到。我们前方还有很长的路要走，但我永远不会放弃为回到你们身边而战斗，我的儿子们。”
在她发表讲话之前，里奇斯安静地坐了几个小时，听她已故丈夫的亲友宣读受害者影响陈述，期间她不时出现强烈的面部表情，似乎流露出强烈的情绪。
当埃里克·里奇斯的姐姐凯蒂·里奇斯-本森在法庭上宣读陈述时，她似乎在冷笑并翻了白眼。凯蒂·里奇斯-本森含泪请求法官判处最严厉的刑罚，她表示里奇斯在弟弟去世后的15个月里，禁止她的三个儿子与丈夫的家人联系。凯蒂·里奇斯-本森还表示，她的弟弟认为里奇斯“邪恶”。
里奇斯的三个儿子也通过辅导员代为宣读的影响陈述，敦促法官判处最高刑罚。
“你只在乎你自己和你那些愚蠢的男友，”其中一份陈述写道，这名在法庭上以姓名首字母“A.R.”指代的男孩表示，如果她出狱，他将无法感到安全。以首字母“C.R.”指代的男孩指控里奇斯犯下一系列罪行，包括“杀死了几乎所有他养的动物”，还可能试图用芬太尼毒害他，导致他癫痫发作。
据美联社报道，里奇斯的律师在量刑听证会前拒绝置评。此次听证会恰逢她丈夫本应年满44岁的日子。
在量刑之前，里奇斯的儿子们表示，如果母亲 ever 从监狱获释，他们将感到不安全。据美联社报道，检察官在敦促法官理查德·姆拉齐克判处里奇斯终身不得假释的备忘录中附上了儿子们的陈述。
在2023年5月被捕之前，里奇斯因撰写一本名为《你和我在一起吗？》的儿童图画书而受到关注，该书围绕如何应对亲人离世的悲伤展开。她曾在犹他州当地一家电视台宣传这本书，并讲述了她和三个儿子在经历个人悲伤时所面临的挑战。在那次露面中，里奇斯曾表示，她丈夫的去世是突如其来的。
审判于2月在帕克城开始，持续了约三周，包括13天的证词。里奇斯的辩护团队没有传唤任何证人，她本人也拒绝在审判中作证。检方将她描绘成一个觊觎丈夫财产的杀手。
据美联社报道，里奇斯还面临另一宗与财务交易相关的多项刑事指控，该案件尚未开庭审理。
美联社对本文亦有贡献。
Kouri Richins sentenced to life without parole in husband’s fentanyl-laced cocktail murder
May 13, 2026 / 5:29 PM EDT / CBS News
Kouri Richins, the Utah mother found guilty of murdering her husband with a fentanyl-laced cocktail, was sentenced on Wednesday, his birthday, to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Richins notoriously wrote a children’s book about grief after her husband’s death in 2022.
Utah district court Judge Richard Mrazik handed down the sentence after presiding over Richins’ criminal trial, saying someone convicted of Richins’ crimes “is simply too dangerous to ever be free.”
“Kouri Richins was convicted unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt of attempting to murder Eric Richins — her husband and the father of her three children,” Mrazik said in explaining his decision. “And then, having failed in her first effort, of spending the next 17 days, not changing course, but doubling down, preparing to try again, and ultimately completing the act through the administration of poison. And for what? Money.”
The prosecution consistently sought a sentence of life without parole, mainly leaning on the argument that Richins’ three children “should never worry they will one day encounter her.” The defense, conversely, pushed for a sentence with the possibility of parole.
Richins was also sentenced to one to 15 years on two insurance fraud counts, a maximum of five years for forgery, and five years to life on the attempted murder charge. Mrazik, who announced those sentences prior to the life without parole sentence, said they would be served consecutively.
Richins’ attorney said they plan to appeal the sentence and convictions and asked for an extension of the typical 14-day deadline to file for a new trial, which Mrazik granted, giving them 28 days.
“Today is a somber occasion. It is a day to remember and honor Eric Richins and all those who loved him and feel his loss,” the prosecutors said in a statement following the sentencing.
Kouri Richins appears at a sentencing hearing with her defense attorney, Wendy Lewis, in the 3rd District Court in Park City on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool
Richins, who did not testify during her trial, spoke for roughly 30 minutes on Wednesday, mainly addressing her children.
“I know today you don’t want to speak to me and you hate me. That’s OK. When you are ready, I will be here for you,” she said.
Richins, 35, was convicted in March of multiple felony charges, including aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder. Prosecutors said she served her late husband, Eric Richins, a Moscow Mule cocktail she had laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022 at their home just outside of Park City. Court filings showed the drink contained nearly five times what is considered a deadly amount of the opioid.
Richins also was found guilty of insurance fraud and forgery, after she allegedly signed to close on a multimillion-dollar real estate deal the day after her husband died. She had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
“I can’t believe that this is real,” Richins added later in her remarks to the court on Wednesday. “Convicted of taking one of the people out of my life that fulfills it the most. I’m still in shock. I’m still in disbelief. Accused and now convicted of such a heinous crime. Convicted of never seeing you boys again.”
Despite her convictions, Richins insisted she is not a murderer, saying, “As much as you’ve been influenced into thinking that I’m a murderer, that I took your dad from you, that is completely wrong. That is an absolute lie.”
“I will not be blamed for something I did not do,” she said, vowing to appeal her conviction.
“So please, I know that right now you may not believe me, that you believe I took dad from you, and that’s OK,” she said. “I still and will always love you, and I’m asking that you please just don’t give up on me. I’m coming home. Not today, not this year, but we’re going to make this right. Our justice system will get this right, although this courtroom can’t seem to. We have a long road ahead, but I will never quit fighting my way home to you boys.”
Prior to her remarks, Richins sat silently for several hours as her late husband’s loved ones read victim impact statements, although she reacted at times with intense facial expressions that seemed to convey strong emotion.
She appeared to smirk and roll her eyes when Eric Richins’ sister, Katie Richins-Benson, gave her statement before the court. Asking the judge for the most severe sentence, Richins-Benson said in tearful remarks that Richins had prohibited her three sons from communicating with her husband’s family for 15 months after his death. Richins-Benson also said her brother believed Richins was “evil.”
Richins’ three sons also pressed the judge to bring the maximum sentence in impact statements read by counselors on their behalf.
“You only cared about yourself and your stupid boyfriends,” read one of them, in which the child referred to in court by the initials “A.R.” said he would not feel safe if she were out of prison. The child with the initials “C.R.” accused Richins of a litany of offenses, including “killing almost all of his animals,” and potentially trying to poison him with fentanyl, too, causing him to have a seizure.
Richins’ attorneys had declined to comment ahead of her sentencing hearing, which falls on the day her husband would have turned 44 years old, The Associated Press reported.
Ahead of her sentencing, Richins’ sons said they’d feel unsafe if their mother were ever released from prison. The sons’ statements came in a memo from prosecutors urging Judge Richard Mrazik to sentence Richins to life without parole, according to AP.
Before her arrest in May 2023, Richins was garnering attention for a children’s picture book she authored called “Are You with Me?” that centered on ways to cope with the loss of a loved one. She appeared on a local Utah television station while promoting it, and described the challenges that she and her three sons confronted while navigating their own personal grief. In that appearance, Richins had said their father’s passing was unexpected.
The trial began in February in Park City and lasted for about three weeks, including 13 days of testimony. Richins’ defense team did not call any witnesses, and she declined to testify at the trial. The prosecution painted her as a killer set on taking her husband’s money.
Kouri Richins faces a slew of other criminal charges related to her financial dealings in a separate case that has not yet gone to trial, according to The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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