Episode Details

The defense landed pretrial blows. But the prosecution is walking into the Kouri Richins murder trial with over 100 potential witnesses, more than 1,000 exhibits, and five weeks to lay out what they say is an overwhelming case for premeditated murder. Defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis breaks down the state's strongest evidence — and explains why some of it may be impossible to overcome.

Start with Valentine's Day 2022. Prosecutors allege Kouri laced Eric's sandwich with fentanyl months before his death. He reportedly broke out in hives and lost consciousness. Two friends say Eric called them afterward saying his wife tried to poison him. His sister told authorities he believed Kouri had spiked his drink years earlier in Greece and told family if anything happened to him, she was to blame. A new life insurance policy had gone into effect just ten days before that alleged attempt. If the jury hears all of that alongside the murder charge, prosecutors aren't just alleging one poisoning — they're alleging a pattern.

Then there's Carmen Lauber — the housekeeper who says Kouri directly asked her to buy fentanyl twice in early 2022, that she delivered pills to the property, and that after the Valentine's Day attempt, Kouri asked for something stronger — specifically "the Michael Jackson stuff," a reference to propofol. Crozier may have recanted, but Lauber's alleged firsthand account of Kouri's direct requests could be the prosecution's most powerful witness.

The digital evidence is staggering. Prosecutors reportedly have Kouri's post-death Google searches including queries about lethal fentanyl doses, luxury prisons, life insurance payout timelines, deleting text messages and iCloud accounts, lie detector tests, and FBI involvement. Unsealed search warrants also allegedly revealed she asked a handyman to procure both fentanyl and propofol weeks before Eric's death — meaning the state may show she was allegedly sourcing drugs from multiple people simultaneously.

Add the "Walk the Dog" letter found in Kouri's jail cell — described by prosecutors as outlining false testimony for her mother and brother — and five pages from an orange notebook prosecutors call her "firsthand account" of the day Eric died, with details that allegedly contradict other evidence. Handwriting expert Matt Throckmorton is expected to testify that signatures on insurance and financial documents were not Eric's — potentially merging fraud and murder motive into one narrative.

Faddis explains how a prosecutor ties five times the lethal dose of fentanyl, a prior attempt, an insurance timeline, and a Moscow Mule into a closing argument that leaves no other reasonable explanation. The defense made noise pretrial. Now the prosecution gets to show what they've been building for four years.

#KouriRichins #EricRichins #RichinsTrial #FentanylMurder #CarmenLauber #ProsecutionEvidence #ValentinesDayPoisoning #ForgedDocuments #EricFaddis #HiddenKillers

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