Utah mom Kouri Richins, accused of poisoning her husband with fentanyl-laced Moscow Mule looks disheveled as she weeps in court – as defense attorney says ‘it’s hard’ for her to be away from her kids

A Utah mother accused of poisoning her husband with a fentanyl-laced Moscow mule has appeared in court looking disheveled as she cried in court.

Richins is accused of poisoning her husband Eric, 39, by stuffing him five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a Moscow mule in March 2022.

Richins appeared in court again earlier today in Summit County along with her attorney Skye Lazaro.

Richins wore a blue prison uniform and appeared disheveled when Lazaro comforted her after the hearing.

When asked about that moment after the hearing, Lazaro recounted KUTV 2 News: ‘This is difficult. “She has been in custody. She has lost her children. She goes through a lot. All she wanted from the beginning was to grieve her husband.’

At Friday’s hearing, Judge Richard Mrazik was told by Lazaro that she had many documents to go through and needed more time.

Mrazik agreed and set a new status, updated for November 3, when the case will be retried.

Richins and her husband had argued over her plans to buy and remodel a $2 million 10-acre house in the days before he was found dead in their Utah home last March, court documents show. .

Prosecutors say Eric learned that his wife had taken out and spent a $250,000 line of credit, withdrawn $100,000 from his bank accounts, and spent more than $30,000 on his credit cards.

Kouri Richins also stole approximately $134,000 from her husband’s business, intended for tax payments, the documents say.

The documents state that she agreed to repay her husband when he confronted her about the missing money.

A day after his death, affidavits for search warrants show that Kouri signed the closing papers on the property and invited friends to a party where she drank and celebrated.

The mother of three later self-published a children’s book titled “Are You with Me?” about an angel-winged deceased father who watches over his sons.

She promoted it on television and radio and described the book as a way to help children grieve the loss of a loved one.

She said in an interview that she was motivated to write the book after searching Amazon and Barnes and Noble and finding “nothing” to help them “cope.”

“I went to Amazon and Barnes and Noble to try and find something that would get us through the night, the nights are the hardest. I just wanted a story to read to my kids at night, but I couldn’t find anything that suited them, so I thought, ‘Let’s write one.’

She went on to describe her husband’s death as a “shock.”

My husband passed away unexpectedly last year. March 4 was an anniversary for us. He was 39.

“It completely shocked us all,” she claimed.

Prosecutors say Kouri poisoned Eric with a lethal amount of the drug to get money from his life insurance policy.

Richins was arrested in May on charges of first-degree murder and multiple counts of second-degree possession of a control substance with intent to distribute.

Prior to his death in March 2022, Eric had changed his will to make his sister the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy and even thought about divorcing Kouri, according to his family.

Family lawyer and spokesperson Greg Skordas previously told DailyMail.com that Eric feared Kouri was trying to kill him after two separate cases where he became violently ill after drinking or eating with his wife.

According to authorities, Kouri changed Eric’s joint life insurance policy, which he shared with his business partner Cody Wright, so that she was the sole beneficiary.

But when the insurance company notified the partners, who own the C&E Stone Masonry company, of the change, they were able to reverse it.

After learning that Richins had tried to change his life insurance policy, Eric changed the beneficiary of his will and power of attorney to his sister.

A warrant states that he did this without telling his wife because he was afraid she would “kill him for the money.”

In the wake of his death, an unnamed acquaintance stepped forward to reveal that he sold Kouri the fentanyl.

After his death, Kouri claimed he was addicted to pain meds in high school, but has had no substance abuse issues since.

Friends and family told police they had no idea Eric was addicted to any kind of drug, and officers found no painkillers in the family home.

She has not yet entered a plea to charges of murder, aggravated murder, and three counts of possession of a controlled substance

If the case goes to trial, it could depend largely on an unidentified informant who prosecutors say sold Richins the drugs that medical examiners later found in her husband’s system.

The indictment documents and warrants detail interviews in which the informant said she sold Richin’s hydrocodone and fentanyl in the weeks and months before her husband’s death.

Prosecutors say the drug purchase timeline matches Eric’s death and their claim that his wife had laced a Valentine’s Day sandwich with hydrocodone weeks before.

After her husband survived the first alleged poisoning, Kouri Richins asked for stronger drugs, “part of the Michael Jackson stuff,” the dealer told investigators, according to prosecutors.

When the pop star died of cardiac arrest in 2009, medical examiners found prescription drugs and potent anesthetics in his system, not fentanyl.

Richins repeatedly denied her involvement on the day of his death in March 2022, even telling police, “My husband is active. He doesn’t just die in his sleep. This is insane.’