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

[arielilane]

Lewis asks about Pimental's K9 drug dog. She has no further questions. Prosecutor asks if Pimental was wearing a body camera the morning of March 4. He was. He consulted with his body camera in preparing the report he made in 2023. Prosecutor asks to admit body cam footage.

We see the body camera footage of Pimental in the bathroom looking for medication prescribed for Eric Richins. We see him filling out a medicine log that's on a counter. Pimental is not doing an entire search of the house because he doesn't have probable cause or a warrant to search the home. There were no gummies in the bathroom. Prosecution is done.

@NateNewsNow

 

[Megnut]

"Did you look on top of the cupboard for the gummies?"

Make it stop.

They didn't have a search warrant. He was looking for medications to assist the ME. He wasn't investigating, wasn't looking for Easter Eggs, wasn't looking for THC gummies or golden tickets.

JMO

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2026342674299760752

 

[tlcya]

Nice dig at the officer. You were there for an hour and a half? Correct? And in that time you wrote down three things?

He wasn't an investigator.

Sheesh.

JMO

redirect cleaned that up rather quickly pointing out his other task during that hour hour and a half was to secure the bedroom by standing outside the door and monitoring to ensure it wasn't accessed by anyone it should not be.

 

[arielilane]

Lewis admits a photo of Eric's hydrocodone bottle. She asks Pimental searching the bathroom and if he took photos. She asks who came in and out of the bedroom while he was securing it. He says a few deputies and some medical personnel.

No further questions from Lewis. Next witness is Park City Advanced EMT Margaret Offret. She has been called out to over 100 death scenes. She has responded to 20-30 drug overdoses over the years.

@NateNewsNow

 

[Megnut]

Did not think of this until this witness. ER was at the foot of the bed, on the floor. How did she do that, why did she do that? She said he was lying in the bed when she found him, presumably on his side of the bed. So she pulled him off the bed lengthwise? How????

Witness noted it as odd.

JMO

 

[arielilane]

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against a Utah mother who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death and is now accused of fatally poisoning him.

No death penalty for a Utah mom accused of killing her husband, then writing a kid book about death

Prosecutors say Kouri Richins, 33, poisoned Eric Richins, 39, by slipping five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a Moscow mule cocktail

www.fox10tv.com

Published: Aug. 19, 2023


Prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty after conferring with the victim’s father and two sisters, according to a court filing Friday.

 

[arielilane]

Offret responded to the Richins' home on March 4. Eric was lying flat on the floor. We now see an image of the EMTs working on Eric. Prosecutor asks if anything stood out about Eric's position. Offret says Eric was at the foot of the bed rather than the side of the bed. He was also very straight - not angled.

EMTs performed life-saving measures on Eric. They started a machine that does compressions while EMTs give medications. They gave Eric epinephrine. Offret asked Kouri if Eric was taking any medications. She said he was taking a medicine for Lyme disease. She also said he took CBD gummies. Time of death was called for Eric Richins at 3:58 a.m.

@NateNewsNow

 

[Cindizzi]

 

[tlcya]

Offret was the person who informed KR that E was dead. Defense attorney is testifying at this point about how sometimes people will be silent in shock, some throw up, in unexpected deaths etc blah blah blah. Offret is answering yes or no and not elaborating.

 

[aamillaa]

Dbm.
Wrong thread.

 

[tlcya]

redirect: Offret saw a lot of blood coming from his mouth as she arrived and during CPR, which caused her to believe perhaps he had an aneurism.

Defense, it's not unusual to see blood coming out during CPR right? Not normally, some blood maybe but not that much no not "normal"

Defense asks about the machine that administered chest compression. suggesting the machine broke ribs or otherwise caused that bleeding or that KR, being a very small person, may have attempted CPR and caused that.

Done with this witness.

 

[arielilane]

No further questions from prosecution. Lewis will now ask questions on behalf of defense. She asks if a prior EMT could have arranged the body. Offret does not know. The call was originally for cardiac arrest. The first thing Offret did was set up the heart monitor and start the machine that does compressions.

Lewis asks Offret where she got the information that Eric was in cardiac arrest. She says it came from the dispatcher. Offret says Eric's heart was in a flatline and there was no electrical activity in his heart. He also was not breathing.

Lewis asks about Narcan. It was administered and helps if someone has overdosed. Narcan was a "last effort, let's try this," Offret explains. Offret continued to try and save Eric. They were not able to determine why he was in cardiac arrest at that time. When Offret left the room, she knew Eric was dead. Offret told a deputy she thought it could possibly be an aneurysm.

Offret asks about Eric's blood sugar. It was high. Offret doesn't know why. Lewis asks Offret if she told Kouri that Eric was deceased. She was. She says it's "very" difficult to tell someone their loved ones have died. Lewis asks about different reactions people have when they get the news. Offret says she's seen a variety of reactions.

@NateNewsNow

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2026320521248587806

 

[tlcya]

Sgt. Andy Crnich is now testifying.

in 2022 he was sgt working in the jail. He also was a volunteer firefighter and responded to medical calls. That day he responded as an on call fierfighter.

 

[arielilane]

Defense done with questions. Prosecution how following up. Offret is asked why she guessed that he may have done an aneurysm. She said because there was a lot of blood coming out of his mouth. Nothing further from prosecution. Defense now asks if it's unusual to see blood come out of someone's mouth during CPR. Offret says not normally, but it seemed like more blood than normal.

Offret asks about the pressure of the compression machine and if there is blood in the lungs, it wouldn't be unusual to have it come out through the mouth. Offret says that's correct. Nothing further.

@NateNewsNow

 

[tlcya]

in the fire dept role his job was to assist with CPR efforts. He doesn't mix that EMS role with LE role. He stays in his lane so to speak.

He was asked to take over airway. at some point was asked to look for medications by he thinks Offret. He checked the nightstand and located a pill bottle it was hydrocodone.

Now comes cross by Nester for defense

 

[Cindizzi]

 

[arielilane]

Next witness is Sgt. Andrew Crnich. He works with the Summit County Sheriff's Office but is also a volunteer firefighter. He was working March 4 as an on-call firefighter to assist medical. He responded to the Richins' home. EMS has already arrived. They asked him to take over airway. He was also asked to look at medications. Prosecutor moves to admit a photo showing Crnich searching in a nightstand drawer to look for any medications. Next image shown is of a pill bottle found in the nightstand. Nothing further from prosecution.

Defense attorney Kathryn Nester asks who was around the body before the compression machine was hooked up. There were two guys with medium builds. Crnich put a tube down Eric's throat and said there wasn't any blood on his face at that point. Shortly after blood showed up in the tube and out of his mouth.

@NateNewsNow

 

[tlcya]

Nester asks about blood coming from mouth, he saw it after securing an airway tube. Have you seen that before? Not usually but it can happen.

as to medication search. did you search nightstand on that side because you understood that was ER's side of the bed. Yes.

Calling attention to apple watch and phone atop what appears to be a small safe atop the nightstand. There is no wallet located there. Points out some pills in foil packaging (over the counter meds of some sort) near the phone on charger.

Did you see those white specs (they are very tiny) on the nightstand? He did not. Can you tell me what those white specs are? just white specs.