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PARK CITY — The judge overseeing the case against a Kamas woman accused of killing her husband and then writing a children's book about grief has denied her request to disqualify the prosecutors.
Third District Judge Richard Mrazik denied the motion from Kouri Richins to disqualify the Summit County prosecutors in a hearing on Thursday.
"I don't see a basis to disqualify anybody from that office, at least from this record," he said, referring to the affidavits and attachments related to the motion.
Richins has claimed that the prosecutors breached her attorney-client privilege by listening to calls and reading her notes.
Mrazik said there is no credible evidence that anyone from the Summit County Attorney's Office listened to phone calls between Richins and her attorney. Mrazik said disqualifying the entire office or deputy county attorney Bradley Bloodworth "is not necessary to maintain the fairness" of the case.
The attorney speaking for Richins on Thursday, Wendy Lewis, was not the attorney who filed the motion. It was filed hours before Richins' attorney Skye Lazaro asked to withdraw from representing her. The law firm she worked for said it had a "professional duty" to withdraw.
Lewis said Lazaro is not waiving her attorney-client privilege to testify about an incident at the jail that was a focal point in the motion. Lazaro said jail officials read privileged notes referred to in the motion, and they brought Bloodworth over, who asked the officer if he had reviewed each page as Lazaro was asked what was in the document. Lewis did not add any new arguments about this incident, relying only on the motion.
'Poisonous bread-crumb strategy'
Deputy Summit County attorney Margaret Olsen asked Mrazik for an even more "robust" ruling. She wanted the judge to determine that the claims in the motion were "speculative at best and bad faith at the worst." She argued that calls between Richins and her attorney that were in prosecutors' discovery file (which is an electronic file of information about the case that prosecutors share with defense) were not protected communications because the attorney did not use a specific app as the jail requests.
She said Richins' attorneys engaged in a "poisonous bread-crumb strategy" by intentionally creating issues in a case that could potentially be used to give Richins a good chance at an appeal and a second trial if she is convicted.
"I posit that every lawyer has an affirmative duty not to engage in conduct that would be prejudicial to the administration of justice," Olsen said.
The attorney further said the timing of the motion — five months after Richins' attorneys learned the calls were in the discovery file and communicated with prosecutors about it — was enough to deny the motion.
"It can be viewed as a manipulative litigation tactic," Olsen said.
She said Lazaro "went where no attorney has gone before" by seeking to remove each attorney on the case by asking for the prosecutors to be disqualified and herself withdrawing on the same day.
Mrazik, however, said Lazaro leaving had nothing to do with her actions but was related to a conflict in a large firm, although he said it is understandable that prosecutors are angry about the motion. The judge said he is not prepared to rule the calls were not confidential — and does not need to.
Richins' charges
Richins is charged with aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder, first-degree felonies; two counts of distribution of a controlled substance, two counts of insurance fraud and two counts of mortgage fraud, second-degree felonies; and three counts of forgery, a third-degree felony.
Prosecutors allege she poisoned her husband Eric Richins, 39, who was found with five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system when he died, according to a toxicology report.
Kouri Richins has maintained her innocence throughout the case, which was originally filed on May 8, 2023.
She will return to the courthouse on Aug. 26 for her preliminary hearing.
