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

[arielilane]

DAY 2 of Kouri Richins trial. We are on the record. Jury is not in the room yet. Members of the media are seated and the public is being escorted in. Judge Richard Mrazik is asking defense attorney Kathryn Nester about the chain of custody issues with a phone. Nester says they need the person who took the phone and the person who did the extraction on the phone.

You can watch livestream here:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2026318912326091077

Parties agree the chain of custody issue may not actually be an issue. Judge will now invite the jury in. He asks for Summit County Deputy Vincent Nguyen to be brought in. Nguyen will continue to be cross-examined by defense attorney Alex Ramos.

Court experiencing tech issues. Judge apologizes and says it will take five minutes to get things sorted out.

 

[tlcya]

booking defendant made on dec 7th 2022 for trip in April 2022 (just after Eric's death) to the Caribbean for KR and Mr. Grossman

Judge will allow those items in. same reason as last objection by defense. Probative value outweighs possible prejudicial risk.

ETA I feel like for some reason I am getting day 1 stuff on repeat at the live trial link. not sure why

 

[tlcya]

day 2 court tv livelink

well that was useless, can't believe I just watched all that and it was not the day two stuff. The link at the top of page is not correct

 

[arielilane]

Jury now in the courtroom. Sidenote: Kathryn Nester has another high-profile client scheduled to be in court this morning at 10:30 a.m. Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk, has a virtual hearing. The judge in that case will decide if prosecutors can remain on the case.

Nguyen back on the stand. Ramos says he has six Post-it notes of things he wants to talk to the deputy, and "I want to be fair." He gives Nguyen some papers and asks if the deputy recognizes them.

Ramos asks Nguyen how long he was at the home along with Det. Woody. Nguyen says he arrived at 3:40 a.m. and left for the station around 5:49 a.m. based on the dispatch log. But another record says he left at 5:41 a.m. Ramos points out an 8-minute discrepancy. Ramos says Nguyen and Woody were at the crime scene together for approximately 24 minutes. Nguyen explains that it could be 24 minutes or more or less because it all depends on who is recording the times on the crime scene log.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2026323069175042141

 

[arielilane]

@livkellehernews


ICYMI: Kouri Richin’s lawyer, Kathy Nester, is also part of the defense team representing Tyler Robinson.

There is a hearing in the Tyler Robinson case today in Provo, conflicting with day 2 of the Richins trial. Nester is here in Park City.
@KUTV2News


10:45 AM · Feb 24, 2026

 

[tlcya]

already tired of watching KR sit there trying to shrink into herself to give the appearance of a meek mild innocent little thing.

 

[Megnut]

I just tuned in. I'm already tired of this cross.

JMO

 

[Serononin]

Jury now in the courtroom. Sidenote: Kathryn Nester has another high-profile client scheduled to be in court this morning at 10:30 a.m. Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk, has a virtual hearing. The judge in that case will decide if prosecutors can remain on the case.

Nguyen back on the stand. Ramos says he has six Post-it notes of things he wants to talk to the deputy, and "I want to be fair." He gives Nguyen some papers and asks if the deputy recognizes them.

Ramos asks Nguyen how long he was at the home along with Det. Woody. Nguyen says he arrived at 3:40 a.m. and left for the station around 5:49 a.m. based on the dispatch log. But another record says he left at 5:41 a.m. Ramos points out an 8-minute discrepancy. Ramos says Nguyen and Woody were at the crime scene together for approximately 24 minutes. Nguyen explains that it could be 24 minutes or more or less because it all depends on who is recording the times on the crime scene log.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2026323069175042141

Quite the day for Nester!

 

[tlcya]

I just tuned in. I'm already tired of this cross.

JMO

nit picking and trying to malign the investigation and not doing a very good job of it IMO. deputy Nguyen is doing well under this cross.

 

[scorpio24]

and if he did actually suspect her of having done that, without proof, could he feel safe about the wellbeing of his children if he were to file for divorce knowing she may be granted partial or full physical custody of them? If she will attempt to kill him for money, what might she do to their children?

although I don't think he truly suspected her at that point, or I can't imagine him accepting food or drink from her ever again.

This is a sticking point for me, too. Was her mother there when they allegedly drank the Moscow mules? Maybe he would have been more inclined to drink something with her if someone else was present.

I got the impression from the body cam video that her mother was there and saw him at some point. I found that so strange and interesting...

MOO

 

[Justice101]

Jury now in the courtroom. Sidenote: Kathryn Nester has another high-profile client scheduled to be in court this morning at 10:30 a.m. Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk, has a virtual hearing. The judge in that case will decide if prosecutors can remain on the case.

Nguyen back on the stand. Ramos says he has six Post-it notes of things he wants to talk to the deputy, and "I want to be fair." He gives Nguyen some papers and asks if the deputy recognizes them.

Ramos asks Nguyen how long he was at the home along with Det. Woody. Nguyen says he arrived at 3:40 a.m. and left for the station around 5:49 a.m. based on the dispatch log. But another record says he left at 5:41 a.m. Ramos points out an 8-minute discrepancy. Ramos says Nguyen and Woody were at the crime scene together for approximately 24 minutes. Nguyen explains that it could be 24 minutes or more or less because it all depends on who is recording the times on the crime scene log.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2026323069175042141

Wow, is that all the defense has??!! Insinuating that the officers were malfeasant because the time they left the scene was recorded a little different? Who cares? Meaningless.

Jurors are generally very practical down to earth people and tactics like this get on their nerves too because they are people too! They know when someone is arguing worthless details that aren't perfect. Nothing burgers so far from the defense.

 

[arielilane]

Ramos gives Nguyen a document that has information about the call to Kouri's house. He asks Nguyen what he told another deputy about what Kouri had told him when Nguyen spoke with her the morning Eric died. Prosecution asks to approach the bench.

Ramos back to questioning Nguyen. He shows him the document again and asks about Kouri saying she got into bed. She didn't feel Eric breathing. Ramos says that information was not given to Dep. deBotelho. Nguyen says that's correct. Ramos asks if Kouri was emotional and upset. Nguyen says she was. "That's common, right? That's not unexpected for someone who just lost their husband, correct?" Ramos asks. Nguyen says that's right.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2026325235746947181

 

[arielilane]

Now I know why this trial is supposed to last five weeks.

 

[MarciB]

nit picking and trying to malign the investigation and not doing a very good job of it IMO. deputy Nguyen is doing well under this cross.

back to Correct, Correct, Correct...

 

[Justice101]

What was the order of calling? Sorry, I should know...

911 first?
Her mother second?
His parents third?

How long in between phone calls or do we not know yet?

 

[tlcya]

defense is suggesting deputy Nguyen should have removed everyone from the death scene by making the "grieving" widow that was their client and the small children vacate the premises.

Basically the defense is insinuating that responding deputies should have known this was a crime scene and treated it accordingly. They didn't do that at that time, ergo the defendant isn't guilty and is the victim of a set up. It's laughable.

It is desperation. All defense appears to be able to do is attempt to chip chip chip away at each witness, sly suggestion here, inuendo there. It will not be effective but I guess if that is all they've got that is what they must run with.

 

[arielilane]

Ramos asks about Kouri's voluntary statement. He asks if there are different purposes for voluntary statements. Nguyen says yes. Ramos lists examples of when there might be different reasons to give a voluntary statement. Ramos asks Nguyen why he was the intial officer even though he was the third one to arrive. Nguyen says it's because it was his zone.

Ramos gives Nguyen a paper and says he wants to discuss six things with him. He asks what needs to be done in a death investigation. Nguyen reads from a document that the family needs to vacate the scene to a comfortable location outside or another family member or friend's house. Ramos responds, "That wasn't done here, correct?" Nguyen says correct.

Ramos asks when you should photograph a scene. Nguyen reads from the paper - "after it is secure." Ramos asks about the first photo you should take. Nguyen says you should place a placard with the case information. "Did you do that here?" Ramos asks. Nguyen did not. Ramos asks him about a point on the paper. It says do not disturb the scene. "That's very important, you would agree?" Nguyen says yes.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2026327726324666540

Ramos say the scene was not secure. Nguyen says it was semi-secured. Ramos asks to read the document and find, "semi-secured." It's not on there. Ramos says, "I have an apology and a thank you for there. I apologize for putting you on the spot and thank you." Ramos is done. Prosecutor will now re-direct.

 

[Justice101]

defense is suggesting deputy Nguyen should have removed everyone from the death scene by making the "grieving" widow that was their client and the small children vacate the premises.

Basically the defense is insinuating that responding deputies should have known this was a crime scene and treated it accordingly. They didn't do that at that time, ergo the defendant isn't guilty and is the victim of a set up. It's laughable.

It is desperation. All defense appears to be able to do is attempt to chip chip chip away at each witness, sly suggestion here, inuendo there. It will not be effective but I guess if that is all they've got that is what they must run with.

Yes it appears at this point the defense has very little to offer.

Doesn't this seem to happen a lot?

Will Kouri take the witness stand at some point???

 

[Megnut]

Re-direct cleared up all of the Defense nonsense. Swiftly.

JMO

 

[tlcya]

on redirect Nguyen has been to a LOT of death scenes. In his opinion based on prior experience, KR did not seem to be crying, kept hiding her face in her hands. He felt her affect was off, not genuine but couldn't get a good read because she kept hiding her face.

Defense back at it asking how many times had you encountered KR in the past, how can you see what is normal. And how he spoke of victims in prior death scenes, not someone who lost a spouse. going nowhere, wrap it up annoying hair guy