May 13, 2026
“I’m Afraid” Kouri Richins’ Sons Ask Judge To Send Mom To Prison For Life
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RSS Feed The grief author mom of three who was convicted of poisoning her husband with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl, will be sentenced later today in Utah. Prosecutors have given the judge statements from Kouri Richins’ three sons, all of whom pleaded with the judge to send their mom to life in prison. In their sentencing memo, prosecutors also laid out some damning evidence of why they believe Richins should never be freed from jail, including a text message that threatens everyone from the judge, the Richins family to the prosecution and its investigators.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Wednesday, May thirteen, and Corey Richins murdered her husband in the presence of their children, using poison and for money. Such a person should never again lurk among the rest of us. Her children should never worry that they may one day encounter her. The court should impose a sentence of life in prison without parole. Corey Richins has earned it, her children deserve it, And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Roges. Just reading an excerpt from the sentencing memo of prosecutors who want Corey Richins, this now convicted mom, to go to prison for the rest of her life. In robes, they were just getting started with that.
00:00:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a fifteen page memo that was given to the judge ahead of Corey richins sentencing, which is scheduled for later this afternoon. It's nine to thirty Mountain time, eleven thirty Eastern time, and it reads like a horror movie. To be honest, we obviously watched and so many of you listened along with us to the evidence that was presented during trial, and it was incredibly damning.
00:01:11
Speaker 3: But when you.
00:01:12
Speaker 2: Actually read what prosecutors lay out for the judge for sentencing.
00:01:16
Speaker 3: It takes it to a whole other level.
00:01:17
Speaker 1: Rose They said they started out like this almost felt personal to a certain and it wasn't. But they were just making more of a narrative and a point here than I think even so during the trial. But they started out the top about the attempt, right, she attempted to kill them, and you know what, she didn't go back and give some thought. She went and said, you know what, how can I do better? They started out the whole briefing that way, and it reads absolutely like this is the worst woman you have ever met. And Rhodes, I guess what will jump out as maybe the most damning and damaging and it has to be hurtful to her. Her young sons contributed to this memo, they don't want to see their mom.
00:01:59
Speaker 2: It sounds like, again, you know what that was to me. Look anyone listening, who's a mom, no matter who you are. I feel like most moms, no matter what you've done, wrong, right, whatever, you never want your kids to think poorly of you.
00:02:16
Speaker 3: And certainly the idea that these three kids.
00:02:19
Speaker 2: In Unison not only think poorly of their mom, they're afraid of their mom. They are begging the judge not to ever let her out during their lifetime. This is significant and they're young to think that these young boys are able to articulate what they said to the judge the way they did. They're now thirteen eleven and nine, and to read and hear their words, it.
00:02:47
Speaker 3: Is beyond impactful.
00:02:49
Speaker 2: And frankly, I was just I was impressed with how they put things and how they express their feelings.
00:02:55
Speaker 1: Would you say, thirteen eleven nine? So that put them at nine seven and five when their dad was dead, was killed and one of them, the little one. They even made a point in there that he doesn't have the same memories of mom and dad at the older two will have. But still he had comments. Who will let you hear those? But roads, they make a point, Corey Richards, took the dad and the mom away from these kids. That's not that. We always talk about roads in these cases, and we've seen some cases where sometimes it's a little older kids. But they will beg the judge, yep, he killed my mom or whatever it may be, but please, this is the only parent I got left. Can you spare the life?
00:03:30
Speaker 2: This ain't that that's not the case in this situation at all. And look, oftentimes, not that there's ever a justification for murdering a spouse or taking a child's parent away from them, but a lot of times they are motivated by love or by wanting to have the kids away from the other parents. This was purely greed, it sounds like, and to use your children, even in the way she did by writing a book to make her look sympathetic to care for her children who are reaving their father, knowing all well all the time that she was the reason why her children were grieving their father, She was the reason why they were in pain. That just shows you a little insight into her psyche and where her lack of empathy, her lack of responsibility, And they talked about that she is never once accept a responsibility. She has never once apologized, She has never once even acknowledged any wrongdoing.
00:04:27
Speaker 1: It's twisted robes. And that was the thing that one of the reasons that this did make such headlines. When you talk about a spouse killing another over money and she had a boyfriend, all right, all those things come together for h and make Look, we've seen that snapped episode before kind of a thing. But when you add that extra element, you actually wonder, who is this person who is capable of killing the husband with poison then writing a book trying to help your kids and other kids deal with the grief of losing a parent. That's just twisted robes. And that's not something we can understand. And I think that's no. That is a big part of the reason this was such a public fascinating.
00:05:03
Speaker 3: And this is sociopathic. There's no other way to put it.
00:05:05
Speaker 2: And we know from science from psychologists that they exist, and they walk among us, and they look like us, and they could be our neighbors and you could be sleeping next to one. And it's really scary the moment they don't get what they want, or they want something that they think they can only have, and they'll do whatever it takes to get it, without any guilt, without any compassion, without any empathy, without suffering.
00:05:28
Speaker 1: And they absolutely made that point throughout this fifteen page mammon, get you caught up. We are a couple of hours away as of this recording of seeing her in court today Corey Richins for the twenty twenty two killing of her husband, Eric Richards. He poisoned his drink moscole mule with fentanyl. Now she had tried what was a week couple weeks ahead of before this.
00:05:48
Speaker 2: It was Valentine's Day, so a couple weeks before with the sandwich. And in this sentencing memo they acknowledged there was a time in Greece, they believe, where she tried to poison him there again in twenty nineteen, So they're talking about repeated attempts of trying to kill her husband.
00:06:03
Speaker 1: So this was a few months ago. We watched this trial. It was expected to go a little longer, but it was shortened because she did not testify. Not only that that's expected for the most part with a defendant, but ropes. We might have actually had popcorn and drinks ready. We were waiting for the defense to put on their case and then lo and behold, they shocked the hell out of all of us.
00:06:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, they decided that the prosecution, or at least in their guestimation, they chose to put not one single witness up in her defense as a way to say to the world and maybe to the jury that hey, yeah, the prosecution didn't prove its case. We don't need to say a word.
00:06:40
Speaker 1: That might not have been the right call, given that she was found guilty on all counts. I do believe all counts that were against her, including the murder charge. So this moves us now to today what's on the table. There are smaller charges. I don't know how deep you want to get into those, but of course the murder is the one we're talking about. This is the one twenty five to life, and the prosecution is asking for her to spend life in They do get into why where do you want to start with the kids because they only refer to him with initials, but they have comments, direct quotes from the kids in there making a plea to the judge about how they feel about what he should do with sentences.
00:07:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, we can start with the oldest who's thirteen now, who is nine at the time of the murder, And yes, we just get their initials. But they made note that he wears his father's clothes to school.
00:07:24
Speaker 1: That was a tough thing to read. That was a tough one to read.
00:07:27
Speaker 2: It stood out to me for sure. And then they wanted the judge to know that he does.
00:07:33
Speaker 3: Not miss his mom. I think this is so interesting.
00:07:35
Speaker 2: The quote is I'm afraid if she gets out she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family. I think she would come and take us and not do good things to us, like hurt us. I miss my dad, but I do not miss the way my life used to be.
00:07:52
Speaker 3: I don't miss Corey. I will tell you that.
00:07:56
Speaker 1: His was of the three we're gonna let you hear with all kids said, but Robes to call his mom Corey.
00:08:02
Speaker 3: Was It was deliberate. That's a big deal and just yes.
00:08:05
Speaker 2: And you know you have a thirteen year old. This is a fully formed human who knows exactly what he thinks, what he feels. He remembers the most out of any of them, and so that was telling.
00:08:16
Speaker 1: That's gutting Robes to think I'm fearful of my mother, the person that raised me. I don't know what their relationship was ahead of this, but the murder was back in twenty twenty two. So these kids have been sitting with it for years. Yeah now, and they've been watching all this stuff, and they've been going to school and being around people. Into Robes, their life's been hell.
00:08:35
Speaker 3: It's unthinkable. I don't know how you felt.
00:08:38
Speaker 2: We haven't discussed this because we read the memos separately, but the one that stood out the most to me was from the eleven and now eleven year old who was seven at the time of the murder.
00:08:49
Speaker 3: He was the middle child.
00:08:50
Speaker 2: He gave a lot of context and did a lot of refuting of Corey Richand's version of what happened the night his father died. I thought it was fascinating because he was the one that she claimed she slept with that night the night Eric Richards died.
00:09:07
Speaker 1: And this did not become a big part of the trial. The comment you may did, but they didn't go examine it because they would have had to call the kid to the stand and they didn't want to do that. And they mentioned this in the memo robes like, just to show the vicious, viciousness of this woman, you put your son in a position you're gonna lie and put him in a position to have to come be a part of all this foolishness again. And yeah, this his comments were one thing, But the prosecution explaining that whole story of that night. If i'd heard that during trial, I wow.
00:09:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, And they didn't put it out in trial. I think that's such a good point to not put him in the middle of it, but no. In this sentencing memo, they put it very clearly that the eleven year old seven at the time refuted his mom's claim that she slept in his bedroom with him that night and said, actually, he remembers it because it was so unusual. He didn't get a bath like he usually does. His parents' bedroom was locked. He said, there was loud music or a television blaring from inside, which was unusual. And she said he said that his mother yelled at him to go away when he was using a broom to try and reach a key to their bedroom because he wanted to get inside, so the.
00:10:18
Speaker 1: Key was up high so the kids couldn't reach it. So seven year old I smart enough, he knew how to do this ropes. Those two things are crazy to me as a parent. Locking the kid out, yeah, is a little odd to me, is it not? Yes, pose don't do that. And what parents since a seven year old boy to bed without a bath?
00:10:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, ooh, that's something I didn't even considered it in that way.
00:10:43
Speaker 3: Yes, And he.
00:10:44
Speaker 2: Even said his five year old brother, who almost always ended up sleeping in the bed with his parents, ended up having to crawl into bed with him because he couldn't get into his.
00:10:53
Speaker 3: Parents' room because it was locked. But I thought of what he said about his dad. It literally I started to cry. He said this to the judge.
00:11:00
Speaker 2: My dad can't be my coach anymore and can't be at any of my games. He won't be at my birthdays, he can't teach me how to drive, he won't be at my graduation.
00:11:10
Speaker 3: Oh and he.
00:11:12
Speaker 2: Said that he would feel unsafe if his mom wasn't in prison. He said, with her in jail, I will be able to continue to feel safe and live a happy and successful life without fear.
00:11:22
Speaker 3: Of her hurting me or anyone I love.
00:11:25
Speaker 1: You know, just be direct. The kids don't have as big of a vocabulary, but they can tell you exactly right. We talk about kids all the time speaking bluntly. They have no filter. This is just direct and peer This sounds like it came directly from this kid and nobody had to write it for him.
00:11:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then look the nine year old now, who was five at the time of the murder. We said, he doesn't remember a lot of things, but I was impressed with even how he expressed himself. He says he feels hateful and ashamed, when people talk about his mom because she took away his dad, and he said he would be so scared if his mother got out of prison, and his quote was, once she is gone, I will feel happy and I will feel safer and relaxed and trust people more. My God, the damage that was done to these poor kids is just it's immeasurable.
00:12:18
Speaker 1: Manes, and the thing goes through and there is example after example after example of how she has gone about behind the scenes and done damage to the rich In's family, how she has sued, how she even one point physically attacked someone.
00:12:37
Speaker 3: Throat punched Eric's sister two days after.
00:12:40
Speaker 1: His murder because of issue over money. Right she found out about the trust something she didn't like. Robes they have more. I learned more and more in this thing. I came out of this with a more negative feeling about her than I did in the damn trial.
00:12:54
Speaker 2: It's hard to even look at her now after reading all of this.
00:12:58
Speaker 1: It's tough three and to think about some of those smurf and the laughing she was doing in court. To add this to what this thing is. We don't know this woman, and God bless, I don't know what's going on. With her and her soul in a life and I don't know, but this is just this is one of the toughest I think, because of the kids, because of the manipulation and the way she was able to function in society. You keep using that word sociopath. How was she able to do? She wrote a book.
00:13:24
Speaker 3: And profited off of its, promoted.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: It god on TV and sat and talked and yes, my book. Who can do that?
00:13:32
Speaker 3: Yeah? Apparently Corey Richinds.
00:13:33
Speaker 2: But when we come back, wait until you hear as a part of this memo, the sentencing memo, prosecutors put in for the judge to read Corey Richand's text to an admirer where she threatens everybody, from the judge himself, to the prosecution, to the rich And family. You'll understand beyond just this murder conviction, why Corey Richards's sons are so scared of her. Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We are talking about what is likely to be some compelling, compelling I don't know if it's testimony, but just victim impacts statements that we're expecting later today and the Corey Richins sentencing hearing.
00:14:24
Speaker 3: But before we even get to court later on.
00:14:27
Speaker 2: Today we have been able to read what prosecutors have handed over to the judge to consider before making his sentencing ruling, and among what we got in this fifteen page sentencing memo is a text that Corey Written's Richens sent to an admirer.
00:14:47
Speaker 1: That's all they say. What they're calling it, but that's all their suggesting. There's no name, so this might just be a random person who was texting, or somebody you actually knew, a fan, if you will from we know that happens a lot.
00:14:56
Speaker 2: Look, it's weird, but a lot of times people who get basically they be become famous because their trial has been televised and people take sides, and there are always people who believe the convicted are innocent and rally to their side and help people get married after they've been convicted of heinous things.
00:15:16
Speaker 1: What's the one the United Healthcare shooter guy that will.
00:15:21
Speaker 2: Shooting over They think he's yeah, oh yeah, Luigi Mangioni, he's got I'm sure however.
00:15:27
Speaker 1: Many you've done stories on that. Yeah, people think he's because he's young, seemingly good looking guy, and they're rallying around him because of that and he is getting courted. So anyway, we've seen this happen, so this might be one of those situations. That's the only way they put it and admire. Now, Robes, we're gonna let everybody here that's gonna read this to you, Robes. I don't know what she was thinking, but I mean, the judge is are supposed to take any of this personally, but he might take this personally.
00:15:53
Speaker 3: It's hard not to take it personally. And she has to know.
00:15:56
Speaker 2: She obviously knows her text messages, any correspondence, she has, any phone.
00:16:02
Speaker 3: Calls, they're all recorded and documented.
00:16:05
Speaker 1: Well, why in the world would she write this down? I don't know.
00:16:08
Speaker 2: All right, here's her text from Corey Richins after she was convicted.
00:16:12
Speaker 3: I believe this was when she put this out.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: What they say, how long? When was this? How long after the conviction she's that They said six weeks.
00:16:19
Speaker 3: Six weeks after she was convicted.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: Six weeks after the guilty verdict, she sent this text.
00:16:23
Speaker 2: Message, I will and will is an all caps. I will expose this county, the prosecution, the judge, the Richings, the investigation, all of it, so they can lock me away for now.
00:16:37
Speaker 3: That's fine.
00:16:38
Speaker 2: It's going to come back on them. It will come to an end, not this year or next. But I'm not going away. I won't be silent. I Am going to expose them all for what they have done to me, my kids, my family. This injustice. They picked the wrong one. They think sentencing is the end closure. It's just the beginning. They haven't seen anything yet.
00:17:07
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm reading it differently. Now does she want that to get out?
00:17:11
Speaker 3: Yes, you're right, of course she did.
00:17:13
Speaker 1: I'm looking and seeing it differently.
00:17:14
Speaker 3: Of course she did.
00:17:15
Speaker 2: Right, of course I didn't even think about it like that. But that is Yes, she wants them to be afraid of her because it's worked for her up until now.
00:17:24
Speaker 1: Power has worked, a facade has worked. She always wants to exude strength or success. Is at that mean? They lay that out in court, But here once again she wants to be in control.
00:17:35
Speaker 2: Yes, and living beyond her means was part of the reason why she got into financial trouble because she was putting on this show of wealth and power and success as a real estate agent. I just I was actually I know you were probably sickened by some of the other bits that prosecutors added in that just looking at some of her correspondence with her family as she was a waiting trial, calling an open seat on Eric the dead and this was like a campaign to damage his reputation.
00:18:05
Speaker 3: They just talked about.
00:18:06
Speaker 2: How not only did she murder him, but then in the cover up, or at least in preparing for trial, she was getting her family members and people to talk about an affair he didn't have, but she claimed he did, a homo sexual relationship he didn't have with his best friend. The throat punch to Eric's sister, the walk the Dog letter where she wrote to her mom, bring me home and then we'll get those damn bitches.
00:18:30
Speaker 3: Referring to family members of Eric.
00:18:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, she said she got family members to file unfounded complaints against the Summit County attorney the chief prosecutor try.
00:18:39
Speaker 1: To get them disbarred.
00:18:40
Speaker 2: This yeah for real, and even posted a gay dating profile of the leading detective to try and humiliate him.
00:18:46
Speaker 1: Hell, some people say it, you got to do it in pr right did? He was all over that before his trial and during the trial, trying to handle the public messaging. I guess that's what she was trying to do. But Robes to see it all laid out here in one fifteen page document. It's a hell of a read.
00:19:00
Speaker 2: Almost feels like mob like tactics, like threatening and then even threatening after the conviction. I just I mean, I guess she's prepared for prison life because she's acting like, you know, she's the boss, she is the one in charge.
00:19:17
Speaker 3: Maybe it's scary, scary behavior.
00:19:21
Speaker 2: It's the opposite of someone who is repentive or even has any concept of what she's actually up against.
00:19:29
Speaker 3: It's delusional.
00:19:30
Speaker 1: The defendant cannot check her ambition, wow or her sense of entitlement when confronted. She lies. When she feels aggravated, she attacks, and she certainly feels aggravated. She always has. They wrote that. I mean, that's a call not so personal. But if you stack up, that's the conclusion you come to. Whence you read all these things about her. No, we don't know her personally, but roads these things are stacking up that make it hard to argue with what they are saying. I thought, I look, I don't know. Look, the judge is going to do his thing. Twenty five y life is what he's considering. The argument that prosecutors, man, I know you saw in there that she shouldn't just serve the rest of her life. She needs to serve the rest of her son's lives.
00:20:16
Speaker 3: I thought that was so compelling.
00:20:18
Speaker 1: Oh damn, that was well said. I've seen some sentencing memos plenty that was laid out in such a way that I thought was in crowd. That hit me and I was like, wow, damn, okay, I'm on board.
00:20:31
Speaker 2: They made the point that if she were only given twenty five years, she would be out at fifty seven. I think they did the math and they were saying the boys' ages would be they'd be in their thirties.
00:20:41
Speaker 1: Sweet spot for families and marriage and all this stuff, right yep.
00:20:44
Speaker 2: With likely with families of their own. How safe would they feel? How safe would they feel for their wives, their children?
00:20:52
Speaker 3: They wouldn't. And that's why they wanted to make this point. She cannot get out while her sons are still alive.
00:20:58
Speaker 1: That was compelling. I don't know what judge I mean. He's a judge. He actually has some leeway rhades. He has to follow certain guidelines, but he absolutely can do what he wants to think something like that. That was the as a judge, if I was, that is the most compelling thing I heard in the fifteenth page.
00:21:14
Speaker 3: I agreed, Hey, damn agreed.
00:21:15
Speaker 1: Why should they have to go to another court hearing to make sure she doesn't get parole? Why do they have to go keep doing this their whole lives?
00:21:23
Speaker 2: That was compelling, It really was, and so obviously we're expecting more compelling words to come from the family members of Eric Richins. By the way, today would have been his forty fourth birthday, and so you can only imagine the emotions that adds to an already emotional day to day in court. So we will of course bring you all the latest that happens from that Utah courtroom.
00:21:46
Speaker 3: But in the meantime, we always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone. I made me Robock alongside TJ. Holmes. We will talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Wednesday, May thirteen, and Corey Richins murdered her husband in the presence of their children, using poison and for money. Such a person should never again lurk among the rest of us. Her children should never worry that they may one day encounter her. The court should impose a sentence of life in prison without parole. Corey Richins has earned it, her children deserve it, And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Roges. Just reading an excerpt from the sentencing memo of prosecutors who want Corey Richins, this now convicted mom, to go to prison for the rest of her life. In robes, they were just getting started with that.
00:00:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a fifteen page memo that was given to the judge ahead of Corey richins sentencing, which is scheduled for later this afternoon. It's nine to thirty Mountain time, eleven thirty Eastern time, and it reads like a horror movie. To be honest, we obviously watched and so many of you listened along with us to the evidence that was presented during trial, and it was incredibly damning.
00:01:11
Speaker 3: But when you.
00:01:12
Speaker 2: Actually read what prosecutors lay out for the judge for sentencing.
00:01:16
Speaker 3: It takes it to a whole other level.
00:01:17
Speaker 1: Rose They said they started out like this almost felt personal to a certain and it wasn't. But they were just making more of a narrative and a point here than I think even so during the trial. But they started out the top about the attempt, right, she attempted to kill them, and you know what, she didn't go back and give some thought. She went and said, you know what, how can I do better? They started out the whole briefing that way, and it reads absolutely like this is the worst woman you have ever met. And Rhodes, I guess what will jump out as maybe the most damning and damaging and it has to be hurtful to her. Her young sons contributed to this memo, they don't want to see their mom.
00:01:59
Speaker 2: It sounds like, again, you know what that was to me. Look anyone listening, who's a mom, no matter who you are. I feel like most moms, no matter what you've done, wrong, right, whatever, you never want your kids to think poorly of you.
00:02:16
Speaker 3: And certainly the idea that these three kids.
00:02:19
Speaker 2: In Unison not only think poorly of their mom, they're afraid of their mom. They are begging the judge not to ever let her out during their lifetime. This is significant and they're young to think that these young boys are able to articulate what they said to the judge the way they did. They're now thirteen eleven and nine, and to read and hear their words, it.
00:02:47
Speaker 3: Is beyond impactful.
00:02:49
Speaker 2: And frankly, I was just I was impressed with how they put things and how they express their feelings.
00:02:55
Speaker 1: Would you say, thirteen eleven nine? So that put them at nine seven and five when their dad was dead, was killed and one of them, the little one. They even made a point in there that he doesn't have the same memories of mom and dad at the older two will have. But still he had comments. Who will let you hear those? But roads, they make a point, Corey Richards, took the dad and the mom away from these kids. That's not that. We always talk about roads in these cases, and we've seen some cases where sometimes it's a little older kids. But they will beg the judge, yep, he killed my mom or whatever it may be, but please, this is the only parent I got left. Can you spare the life?
00:03:30
Speaker 2: This ain't that that's not the case in this situation at all. And look, oftentimes, not that there's ever a justification for murdering a spouse or taking a child's parent away from them, but a lot of times they are motivated by love or by wanting to have the kids away from the other parents. This was purely greed, it sounds like, and to use your children, even in the way she did by writing a book to make her look sympathetic to care for her children who are reaving their father, knowing all well all the time that she was the reason why her children were grieving their father, She was the reason why they were in pain. That just shows you a little insight into her psyche and where her lack of empathy, her lack of responsibility, And they talked about that she is never once accept a responsibility. She has never once apologized, She has never once even acknowledged any wrongdoing.
00:04:27
Speaker 1: It's twisted robes. And that was the thing that one of the reasons that this did make such headlines. When you talk about a spouse killing another over money and she had a boyfriend, all right, all those things come together for h and make Look, we've seen that snapped episode before kind of a thing. But when you add that extra element, you actually wonder, who is this person who is capable of killing the husband with poison then writing a book trying to help your kids and other kids deal with the grief of losing a parent. That's just twisted robes. And that's not something we can understand. And I think that's no. That is a big part of the reason this was such a public fascinating.
00:05:03
Speaker 3: And this is sociopathic. There's no other way to put it.
00:05:05
Speaker 2: And we know from science from psychologists that they exist, and they walk among us, and they look like us, and they could be our neighbors and you could be sleeping next to one. And it's really scary the moment they don't get what they want, or they want something that they think they can only have, and they'll do whatever it takes to get it, without any guilt, without any compassion, without any empathy, without suffering.
00:05:28
Speaker 1: And they absolutely made that point throughout this fifteen page mammon, get you caught up. We are a couple of hours away as of this recording of seeing her in court today Corey Richins for the twenty twenty two killing of her husband, Eric Richards. He poisoned his drink moscole mule with fentanyl. Now she had tried what was a week couple weeks ahead of before this.
00:05:48
Speaker 2: It was Valentine's Day, so a couple weeks before with the sandwich. And in this sentencing memo they acknowledged there was a time in Greece, they believe, where she tried to poison him there again in twenty nineteen, So they're talking about repeated attempts of trying to kill her husband.
00:06:03
Speaker 1: So this was a few months ago. We watched this trial. It was expected to go a little longer, but it was shortened because she did not testify. Not only that that's expected for the most part with a defendant, but ropes. We might have actually had popcorn and drinks ready. We were waiting for the defense to put on their case and then lo and behold, they shocked the hell out of all of us.
00:06:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, they decided that the prosecution, or at least in their guestimation, they chose to put not one single witness up in her defense as a way to say to the world and maybe to the jury that hey, yeah, the prosecution didn't prove its case. We don't need to say a word.
00:06:40
Speaker 1: That might not have been the right call, given that she was found guilty on all counts. I do believe all counts that were against her, including the murder charge. So this moves us now to today what's on the table. There are smaller charges. I don't know how deep you want to get into those, but of course the murder is the one we're talking about. This is the one twenty five to life, and the prosecution is asking for her to spend life in They do get into why where do you want to start with the kids because they only refer to him with initials, but they have comments, direct quotes from the kids in there making a plea to the judge about how they feel about what he should do with sentences.
00:07:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, we can start with the oldest who's thirteen now, who is nine at the time of the murder, And yes, we just get their initials. But they made note that he wears his father's clothes to school.
00:07:24
Speaker 1: That was a tough thing to read. That was a tough one to read.
00:07:27
Speaker 2: It stood out to me for sure. And then they wanted the judge to know that he does.
00:07:33
Speaker 3: Not miss his mom. I think this is so interesting.
00:07:35
Speaker 2: The quote is I'm afraid if she gets out she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family. I think she would come and take us and not do good things to us, like hurt us. I miss my dad, but I do not miss the way my life used to be.
00:07:52
Speaker 3: I don't miss Corey. I will tell you that.
00:07:56
Speaker 1: His was of the three we're gonna let you hear with all kids said, but Robes to call his mom Corey.
00:08:02
Speaker 3: Was It was deliberate. That's a big deal and just yes.
00:08:05
Speaker 2: And you know you have a thirteen year old. This is a fully formed human who knows exactly what he thinks, what he feels. He remembers the most out of any of them, and so that was telling.
00:08:16
Speaker 1: That's gutting Robes to think I'm fearful of my mother, the person that raised me. I don't know what their relationship was ahead of this, but the murder was back in twenty twenty two. So these kids have been sitting with it for years. Yeah now, and they've been watching all this stuff, and they've been going to school and being around people. Into Robes, their life's been hell.
00:08:35
Speaker 3: It's unthinkable. I don't know how you felt.
00:08:38
Speaker 2: We haven't discussed this because we read the memos separately, but the one that stood out the most to me was from the eleven and now eleven year old who was seven at the time of the murder.
00:08:49
Speaker 3: He was the middle child.
00:08:50
Speaker 2: He gave a lot of context and did a lot of refuting of Corey Richand's version of what happened the night his father died. I thought it was fascinating because he was the one that she claimed she slept with that night the night Eric Richards died.
00:09:07
Speaker 1: And this did not become a big part of the trial. The comment you may did, but they didn't go examine it because they would have had to call the kid to the stand and they didn't want to do that. And they mentioned this in the memo robes like, just to show the vicious, viciousness of this woman, you put your son in a position you're gonna lie and put him in a position to have to come be a part of all this foolishness again. And yeah, this his comments were one thing, But the prosecution explaining that whole story of that night. If i'd heard that during trial, I wow.
00:09:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, And they didn't put it out in trial. I think that's such a good point to not put him in the middle of it, but no. In this sentencing memo, they put it very clearly that the eleven year old seven at the time refuted his mom's claim that she slept in his bedroom with him that night and said, actually, he remembers it because it was so unusual. He didn't get a bath like he usually does. His parents' bedroom was locked. He said, there was loud music or a television blaring from inside, which was unusual. And she said he said that his mother yelled at him to go away when he was using a broom to try and reach a key to their bedroom because he wanted to get inside, so the.
00:10:18
Speaker 1: Key was up high so the kids couldn't reach it. So seven year old I smart enough, he knew how to do this ropes. Those two things are crazy to me as a parent. Locking the kid out, yeah, is a little odd to me, is it not? Yes, pose don't do that. And what parents since a seven year old boy to bed without a bath?
00:10:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, ooh, that's something I didn't even considered it in that way.
00:10:43
Speaker 3: Yes, And he.
00:10:44
Speaker 2: Even said his five year old brother, who almost always ended up sleeping in the bed with his parents, ended up having to crawl into bed with him because he couldn't get into his.
00:10:53
Speaker 3: Parents' room because it was locked. But I thought of what he said about his dad. It literally I started to cry. He said this to the judge.
00:11:00
Speaker 2: My dad can't be my coach anymore and can't be at any of my games. He won't be at my birthdays, he can't teach me how to drive, he won't be at my graduation.
00:11:10
Speaker 3: Oh and he.
00:11:12
Speaker 2: Said that he would feel unsafe if his mom wasn't in prison. He said, with her in jail, I will be able to continue to feel safe and live a happy and successful life without fear.
00:11:22
Speaker 3: Of her hurting me or anyone I love.
00:11:25
Speaker 1: You know, just be direct. The kids don't have as big of a vocabulary, but they can tell you exactly right. We talk about kids all the time speaking bluntly. They have no filter. This is just direct and peer This sounds like it came directly from this kid and nobody had to write it for him.
00:11:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then look the nine year old now, who was five at the time of the murder. We said, he doesn't remember a lot of things, but I was impressed with even how he expressed himself. He says he feels hateful and ashamed, when people talk about his mom because she took away his dad, and he said he would be so scared if his mother got out of prison, and his quote was, once she is gone, I will feel happy and I will feel safer and relaxed and trust people more. My God, the damage that was done to these poor kids is just it's immeasurable.
00:12:18
Speaker 1: Manes, and the thing goes through and there is example after example after example of how she has gone about behind the scenes and done damage to the rich In's family, how she has sued, how she even one point physically attacked someone.
00:12:37
Speaker 3: Throat punched Eric's sister two days after.
00:12:40
Speaker 1: His murder because of issue over money. Right she found out about the trust something she didn't like. Robes they have more. I learned more and more in this thing. I came out of this with a more negative feeling about her than I did in the damn trial.
00:12:54
Speaker 2: It's hard to even look at her now after reading all of this.
00:12:58
Speaker 1: It's tough three and to think about some of those smurf and the laughing she was doing in court. To add this to what this thing is. We don't know this woman, and God bless, I don't know what's going on. With her and her soul in a life and I don't know, but this is just this is one of the toughest I think, because of the kids, because of the manipulation and the way she was able to function in society. You keep using that word sociopath. How was she able to do? She wrote a book.
00:13:24
Speaker 3: And profited off of its, promoted.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: It god on TV and sat and talked and yes, my book. Who can do that?
00:13:32
Speaker 3: Yeah? Apparently Corey Richinds.
00:13:33
Speaker 2: But when we come back, wait until you hear as a part of this memo, the sentencing memo, prosecutors put in for the judge to read Corey Richand's text to an admirer where she threatens everybody, from the judge himself, to the prosecution, to the rich And family. You'll understand beyond just this murder conviction, why Corey Richards's sons are so scared of her. Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We are talking about what is likely to be some compelling, compelling I don't know if it's testimony, but just victim impacts statements that we're expecting later today and the Corey Richins sentencing hearing.
00:14:24
Speaker 3: But before we even get to court later on.
00:14:27
Speaker 2: Today we have been able to read what prosecutors have handed over to the judge to consider before making his sentencing ruling, and among what we got in this fifteen page sentencing memo is a text that Corey Written's Richens sent to an admirer.
00:14:47
Speaker 1: That's all they say. What they're calling it, but that's all their suggesting. There's no name, so this might just be a random person who was texting, or somebody you actually knew, a fan, if you will from we know that happens a lot.
00:14:56
Speaker 2: Look, it's weird, but a lot of times people who get basically they be become famous because their trial has been televised and people take sides, and there are always people who believe the convicted are innocent and rally to their side and help people get married after they've been convicted of heinous things.
00:15:16
Speaker 1: What's the one the United Healthcare shooter guy that will.
00:15:21
Speaker 2: Shooting over They think he's yeah, oh yeah, Luigi Mangioni, he's got I'm sure however.
00:15:27
Speaker 1: Many you've done stories on that. Yeah, people think he's because he's young, seemingly good looking guy, and they're rallying around him because of that and he is getting courted. So anyway, we've seen this happen, so this might be one of those situations. That's the only way they put it and admire. Now, Robes, we're gonna let everybody here that's gonna read this to you, Robes. I don't know what she was thinking, but I mean, the judge is are supposed to take any of this personally, but he might take this personally.
00:15:53
Speaker 3: It's hard not to take it personally. And she has to know.
00:15:56
Speaker 2: She obviously knows her text messages, any correspondence, she has, any phone.
00:16:02
Speaker 3: Calls, they're all recorded and documented.
00:16:05
Speaker 1: Well, why in the world would she write this down? I don't know.
00:16:08
Speaker 2: All right, here's her text from Corey Richins after she was convicted.
00:16:12
Speaker 3: I believe this was when she put this out.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: What they say, how long? When was this? How long after the conviction she's that They said six weeks.
00:16:19
Speaker 3: Six weeks after she was convicted.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: Six weeks after the guilty verdict, she sent this text.
00:16:23
Speaker 2: Message, I will and will is an all caps. I will expose this county, the prosecution, the judge, the Richings, the investigation, all of it, so they can lock me away for now.
00:16:37
Speaker 3: That's fine.
00:16:38
Speaker 2: It's going to come back on them. It will come to an end, not this year or next. But I'm not going away. I won't be silent. I Am going to expose them all for what they have done to me, my kids, my family. This injustice. They picked the wrong one. They think sentencing is the end closure. It's just the beginning. They haven't seen anything yet.
00:17:07
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm reading it differently. Now does she want that to get out?
00:17:11
Speaker 3: Yes, you're right, of course she did.
00:17:13
Speaker 1: I'm looking and seeing it differently.
00:17:14
Speaker 3: Of course she did.
00:17:15
Speaker 2: Right, of course I didn't even think about it like that. But that is Yes, she wants them to be afraid of her because it's worked for her up until now.
00:17:24
Speaker 1: Power has worked, a facade has worked. She always wants to exude strength or success. Is at that mean? They lay that out in court, But here once again she wants to be in control.
00:17:35
Speaker 2: Yes, and living beyond her means was part of the reason why she got into financial trouble because she was putting on this show of wealth and power and success as a real estate agent. I just I was actually I know you were probably sickened by some of the other bits that prosecutors added in that just looking at some of her correspondence with her family as she was a waiting trial, calling an open seat on Eric the dead and this was like a campaign to damage his reputation.
00:18:05
Speaker 3: They just talked about.
00:18:06
Speaker 2: How not only did she murder him, but then in the cover up, or at least in preparing for trial, she was getting her family members and people to talk about an affair he didn't have, but she claimed he did, a homo sexual relationship he didn't have with his best friend. The throat punch to Eric's sister, the walk the Dog letter where she wrote to her mom, bring me home and then we'll get those damn bitches.
00:18:30
Speaker 3: Referring to family members of Eric.
00:18:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, she said she got family members to file unfounded complaints against the Summit County attorney the chief prosecutor try.
00:18:39
Speaker 1: To get them disbarred.
00:18:40
Speaker 2: This yeah for real, and even posted a gay dating profile of the leading detective to try and humiliate him.
00:18:46
Speaker 1: Hell, some people say it, you got to do it in pr right did? He was all over that before his trial and during the trial, trying to handle the public messaging. I guess that's what she was trying to do. But Robes to see it all laid out here in one fifteen page document. It's a hell of a read.
00:19:00
Speaker 2: Almost feels like mob like tactics, like threatening and then even threatening after the conviction. I just I mean, I guess she's prepared for prison life because she's acting like, you know, she's the boss, she is the one in charge.
00:19:17
Speaker 3: Maybe it's scary, scary behavior.
00:19:21
Speaker 2: It's the opposite of someone who is repentive or even has any concept of what she's actually up against.
00:19:29
Speaker 3: It's delusional.
00:19:30
Speaker 1: The defendant cannot check her ambition, wow or her sense of entitlement when confronted. She lies. When she feels aggravated, she attacks, and she certainly feels aggravated. She always has. They wrote that. I mean, that's a call not so personal. But if you stack up, that's the conclusion you come to. Whence you read all these things about her. No, we don't know her personally, but roads these things are stacking up that make it hard to argue with what they are saying. I thought, I look, I don't know. Look, the judge is going to do his thing. Twenty five y life is what he's considering. The argument that prosecutors, man, I know you saw in there that she shouldn't just serve the rest of her life. She needs to serve the rest of her son's lives.
00:20:16
Speaker 3: I thought that was so compelling.
00:20:18
Speaker 1: Oh damn, that was well said. I've seen some sentencing memos plenty that was laid out in such a way that I thought was in crowd. That hit me and I was like, wow, damn, okay, I'm on board.
00:20:31
Speaker 2: They made the point that if she were only given twenty five years, she would be out at fifty seven. I think they did the math and they were saying the boys' ages would be they'd be in their thirties.
00:20:41
Speaker 1: Sweet spot for families and marriage and all this stuff, right yep.
00:20:44
Speaker 2: With likely with families of their own. How safe would they feel? How safe would they feel for their wives, their children?
00:20:52
Speaker 3: They wouldn't. And that's why they wanted to make this point. She cannot get out while her sons are still alive.
00:20:58
Speaker 1: That was compelling. I don't know what judge I mean. He's a judge. He actually has some leeway rhades. He has to follow certain guidelines, but he absolutely can do what he wants to think something like that. That was the as a judge, if I was, that is the most compelling thing I heard in the fifteenth page.
00:21:14
Speaker 3: I agreed, Hey, damn agreed.
00:21:15
Speaker 1: Why should they have to go to another court hearing to make sure she doesn't get parole? Why do they have to go keep doing this their whole lives?
00:21:23
Speaker 2: That was compelling, It really was, and so obviously we're expecting more compelling words to come from the family members of Eric Richins. By the way, today would have been his forty fourth birthday, and so you can only imagine the emotions that adds to an already emotional day to day in court. So we will of course bring you all the latest that happens from that Utah courtroom.
00:21:46
Speaker 3: But in the meantime, we always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone. I made me Robock alongside TJ. Holmes. We will talk to you soon.