Kouri Richins files motion to reconsider bail and release after key witness recants statement

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) — The Kamas mother accused of killing her husband and writing a children’s book has filed a new motion after a key witness recanted his statement.

Kouri Richins, 35, was initially charged with aggravated murder and three counts of possession with intent to distribute in 2022. Later, she faced additional charges for attempted aggravated murder, two counts of mortgage fraud, two counts of insurance fraud, and three counts of forgery.

Richins allegedly caused the death of her husband by using fentanyl in 2022. Afterward, she wrote a children’s book about grief and promoted it, even visiting ABC4’s lifestyle show Good Things Utah. A full timeline of events can be read here.

Recanting the previous statement

When Richins was arrested in 2022, investigators reportedly found that she had been messaging a friend to obtain fentanyl. According to court documents, that friend purchased the fentanyl through a man named Robert Crozier.

Previously, in a May 2023 interview with police, Crozier stated that he had sold fentanyl to Richins’ friend on two separate occasions in 2022. This was used as key evidence in the case, based on statements from Richins’ friend that she had purchased fentanyl and provided it to Richins through Crozier.

Today, an affidavit from Crozier was filed. In it, he claims that he was detoxing from drugs during the 2023 interview with police. Crozier states that he does not “have any personal recollection of the details” but has been told he agreed that he had sold fentanyl to Richins’ friend.

According to the affidavit, Crozier met with two people from the Summit County Attorney’s Office earlier this year, in April. At that meeting, he had been sober for over three months. He recalled one of them being Brad Bloodworth, a prosecutor on the case.

Crozier states that he told Bloodworth that he had not sold fentanyl to Richins’ friend, but only sold her OxyContin. When asked why he had previously testified to selling fentanyl, Crozier said he told them that he was “out of it” during the original interview.

“I told them that I was certain that I had sold [Richins’ friend] OxyContin 30 mg pills,” Crozier writes in the affidavit. He claims that he did not have access to fentanyl and was selling OxyContin from a personal prescription.

Motion to reconsider bail

In the motion filed by Richins and her attorneys to reconsider bail and the conditions of her release, it reads, “New evidence has come to light that goes to the heart of the state’s allegations that Ms. Richins poisoned her husband with fentanyl.”

Richins’ attorneys write that the prosecution did not inform them that Crozier had denied selling fentanyl to Richins’ friend, and they instead had to find it out months later while interviewing him independently.

Due to Crozier’s new affidavit, the defense is arguing that the case against Richins has weakened. To continue holding Richins in jail without bail, her attorneys state that the prosecution needs to find “that there is substantial evidence” to support the charges without the statement of Crozier.

“If the state cannot place fentanyl in the hands of the defendant, the state has no case. Mr. Crozier’s statement doesn’t just poke holes in their case, it throws a grenade into the middle of it, leaving them nothing but speculation and conjecture, getting them nowhere near the realm of beyond a reasonable doubt,” the motion reads.

Based on the new evidence, Richins’ attorneys are arguing that she should be released, as there is not enough proof to hold her in jail on aggravated homicide or attempted aggravated homicide.