UT - Kouri Richins, 33, Author, wife, mom, charged in husband’s unexpected death last year, May 2023 #3

[Niner]

Jury selection begins for Kouri Richins, Utah woman accused of poisoning husband

After years of national attention, the Kouri Richins murder case is moving into its next phase.

wjla.com

2/10/2026

I don't believe this is true - from article

Ruth said the court will spend five days collecting and analyzing responses from the questionnaires in an effort to seat 12 jurors and alternates.

I remember when I read it in an article I thought - oh - so it should be 8 jurors & 4 alternates.
Correct?

 

[AnyNameIWish]

The mere fact that jury is being selected virtually is troubling to me. This could be bad for both the state and defense but going thru these people just as faces on a screen???

@arielilane huge thanks for not making me click on those Twitter links as I don't like to use that site at all!!! You're the best.

 

[arielilane]

@brian_schnee


Defense wants to strike juror 5 “for cause.”Judge acknowledges the reasons cited for cause were in the questionnaire.Prosecution says they should be passed thru. Judge cites a code; passes the juror and denied the defenses motion to strike “for cause”.

On to juror #6.
@KUTV2News


12:33 PM · Feb 10, 2026

 

[arielilane]

@brian_schnee


Juror has been “struck for cause”. On to #7 - Who has followed parts of the case via the @Parkrecord (lots of mentions so far this morning).

@KUTV2News


12:50 PM · Feb 10, 2026

https://twitter.com/x/status/2021280616722121055

 

[Niner]

@arielilane - have they said how many strikes each side gets? TIA!

 

[arielilane]

@brian_schnee


Juror #7 has been passed for cause; despite defense asking for the prospective juror to be struck.

On to #8 - Who said “somewhat agree” that the legal system is corrupt on their questionnaire.

Questioning continues about that questionnaire response and others. Prospective juror #8 admitted to seeing some media coverage on the case “a while ago”.

I’ll be stepping out shortly for @KUTV2News at Noon.


1:11 PM · Feb 10, 2026

https://twitter.com/x/status/2021285941646852455

 

[arielilane]

I don't believe this is true - from article

Ruth said the court will spend five days collecting and analyzing responses from the questionnaires in an effort to seat 12 jurors and alternates.

I remember when I read it in an article I thought - oh - so it should be 8 jurors & 4 alternates.
Correct?

You're correct, the search is for eight jurors and four alternates.

Nice catch, @Niner!

 

[arielilane]

@arielilane - have they said how many strikes each side gets? TIA!

I have not been paying too much attention. At this time, an exact number has not been mentioned.





Note: both sides (state and defense) in the KR trial are given limited number of strikes, however, an exact number has not been specified in the available information at this time.

Jury selection process includes dismissing jurors for cause and using these strikes to eliminate potential jurors.

 

[SteveS]

If it's unclear to anyone, eliminating [or striking] jurors for cause is not the same as one side exercising a strike.

As we are seeing, they interview (aka voir dire) the potential jurors, and as they go some are dismissed because they are deemed BY THE COURT to be unsuitable for some legal reason. These are the requests as they go to dismiss Juror X or Y "for cause" -- ie, one side or another is suggesting that they do not meet the legal standard for a juror for this case. Or the judge just unlaterally does it. It may be bias, it may be too much case research, it may be that the juror has potential conflicts, it can be any number of things that are discovered in the questioning. Whatever it is, one party is wanting the court to exercise its latitude and eliminate that potential juror. The judge makes the call, and there is NO LIMIT on how many jurors can be eliminated for cause.

Eventually they will get up to 30 or so that are deemed legally acceptable to be jurors in this case by the court.

After that, the 2 sides will be able to strike jurors, and assuming they do it like here, they will start with Juror 1, each side will be able to strike him/her if they wish, and each side can continue to strike jurors up to a certain number of allowable strikes each side has been given. When they have the first 12 who were not struck, they have their jury. In my math, that gives each side 9 or so strikes, but whether either side uses all 9 is up to them.

Hope that helps.