{"id":4383,"date":"2026-07-30T20:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T20:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=4383"},"modified":"2026-07-30T20:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T20:40:10","slug":"kouri-richins-request-for-new-trial-denied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=4383","title":{"rendered":"Kouri Richins\u2019 request for new trial denied"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

PARK CITY \u2014 Kouri Richins\u2019 request for a new trial has been denied.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, 3rd District Judge Kara Pettit ruled that the Kamas mother and former real estate agent convicted in March of killing her husband, and who was sentenced in May to life in prison without the possibility of parole, will not have her convictions of aggravated murder and four other felony crimes thrown out.<\/p>\n

Read more Utah offers $5 million in grants to develop pro-human AI<\/a><\/p>\n

In her decision, Pettit notes that Richins\u2019 request to have her trial judge, Richard Mrazik, disqualified \u201cis not accompanied by a certification of good faith, nor is it supported by an affidavit or unsworn declaration.\u201d Furthermore, it was filed more than 21 days after her conviction, as required by Utah law.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if the motion met the procedural requirements \u2026 and was timely filed, it fails to state facts sufficient to show the level of bias, prejudice or conflict of interest by Judge Mrazik required to warrant disqualification,\u201d Pettit\u2019s ruling states.<\/p>\n

Richins, 36, was convicted in March of killing her husband, 39-year-old Eric Richins, on March 4, 2022. She was sentenced in May to life in prison without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n

She was not arrested until over a year after her husband\u2019s death. And during that time, she hired a ghostwriter to help her publish a children\u2019s book about dealing with grief. <\/p>\n

In her motion asking for her convictions to be vacated, Richins\u2019 attorneys contended that they were \u201crepeatedly interrupted\u201d throughout the trial and that the judge \u201ccorrected counsel\u201d in ways that made it appear her attorneys were mishandling witnesses.<\/p>\n

Pettit noted in her ruling that a judge\u2019s behavior \u201cmust be extreme to warrant a finding of prejudice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c(Richins) alleges Judge Mrazik was impatient, critical, hostile, disparaging and condescending toward defense counsel, and in contrast was friendly and helpful to the prosecution,\u201d the ruling states.<\/p>\n

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Pettit says she reviewed video clips of the trial submitted by defense attorneys and found that they \u201cdo not demonstrate the level of extreme behavior or conduct reflecting a deep-seated antagonism toward defense, nor favoritism toward the prosecution, to warrant disqualification. Even if Judge Mrazik\u2019s conduct could be considered as showing anger or frustration with defense counsel, that is not grounds for disqualification.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court finds and concludes Judge Mrazik\u2019s alleged conduct falls well short of \u2018reveal[ing] such a high degree of favoritism or antagonism as to make fair judgment impossible,\u2019\u201d the ruling continues.<\/p>\n

Now that Richins\u2019 motion for a new trial has been denied, the case returns to Mrazik\u2019s courtroom. One of the issues still to be decided is how much restitution Richins will have to pay for her murder and insurance fraud convictions.<\/p>\n

Last week, prosecutors filed a motion stating that they are seeking more than $1.3 million in restitution. The figure is based on the life insurance money Richins collected following her husband\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Richins also still faces charges in a second case accusing her of five counts of mortgage fraud, five counts of forgery, seven counts of issuing a bad check, seven counts of money laundering, communications fraud and engaging in a pattern of illegal activity. Those alleged crimes happened prior to Eric Richins\u2019 death.<\/p>\n

A hearing is scheduled for Friday morning for Mrazik and attorneys on both sides to work out a schedule of how to proceed from here.<\/p>\n

Read more High school football: Morgan picked to finish atop 3A North region<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A judge has denied Kouri Richins’ request to have her convictions thrown out, including her aggravated murder conviction for killing her husband in 2022. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-utah"],"yoast_head":"\nKouri Richins\u2019 request for new trial denied - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=4383\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kouri Richins\u2019 request for new trial denied - American Movers Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A judge has denied Kouri Richins' request to have her convictions thrown out, including her aggravated murder conviction for killing her husband in 2022.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=4383\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Movers Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-30T20:40:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=4383#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=4383\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b68c8483906c0d2987f271455f0177af\"},\"headline\":\"Kouri Richins\u2019 request for new trial denied\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-30T20:40:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=4383\"},\"wordCount\":595,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=4383#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/608f6ec9820ebe48a2e933313e548378.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Utah\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=4383#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=4383\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=4383\",\"name\":\"Kouri Richins\u2019 request for new trial denied - 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