‘Family torn apart’: Kouri Richins juror describes emotional murder deliberations ahead of guilty verdict
Kouri Richins who is accused of poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl appears in court with her lawyers for a detention hearing, June 12, 2023. (ABC News)
(SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah) — When Laura, the foreperson in Kouri Richins’ murder trial, first saw the mother accused of murdering her husband, she didn’t think much of her.
“She was kind of nondescript,” she told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” in an exclusive interview. “She didn’t really show that much emotion. I was trying to get some vibe from her and it was very hard to pick up any kind of vibe.”
The foreperson was one of eight jurors in Summit County, Utah, who convicted Richins this week of murdering her husband, Eric, with a fatal dose of fentanyl in March 2022.
Richins, 35, who after her husband’s death self-published a children’s book on grieving, was found guilty on all five counts, including aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder.
“There was never a not guilty check with anything, with any element, nothing,” the foreperson, Laura, who was juror No. 2, told ABC News of the 3-hour jury deliberations on Monday.
“Even though it was just three hours, I felt like we came into that deliberation fully loaded,” she said, adding, “To evaluate the case and to look at the evidence we had to zoom in on these little bits of evidence and kind of ignore all the fluff and ignore the drama.”
Richins in 2023 self-published her children’s book, which she said was intended to help her sons with their loss.
A month prior to her arrest in May 2023, the mom of three young sons appeared on a “Good Things Utah” segment on Salt Lake City ABC affiliate KTVX to promote the book. In the segment, Kouri Richins said her husband of nine years died “unexpectedly” and that his death “completely took us all by shock.
The jurors were shocked when they were told about the book in the final days of testimony at the trial, Laura told ABC News.
“Everyone just felt like they’re hit with a truck,” she said. “We’re like, what? What the hell is this? It was so odd and so strange.”
Richins did not testify during the three-week trial and the defense called no witnesses.
The prosecution alleged she was having an affair, was deep in debt and was desperate to inherit her husband’s estate and life insurance.
The jury found her guilty of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder, along with three other counts. Two were for insurance fraud connected to life-insurance policies and a third was for forgery, for forging her husband’s signature on documents.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 13 and Richins could receive 25 years to life.
“People were really sad, because they did not want to find her guilty,” Laura told ABC News of her fellow jurors. “They were really hoping that she was innocent. And we couldn’t come to that conclusion, and it was really heartbreaking.”
She added, “This devastating reality that this family was torn apart and these poor kids will really basically never have a dad or mom.”
(SAN ANTONIO) — Newly obtained dashboard camera video may show a Texas teenage girl right when she went missing on Christmas Eve, authorities said.
Camila Mendoza Olmos, 19, has been missing since Wednesday morning, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators previously released security footage showing a person they said they believe to be Mendoza Olmos searching her car in her driveway around 7 a.m. Wednesday.
Now, investigators have a dash cam video from someone who was driving to work on Wednesday morning and passed a woman walking by herself, and that person may be Mendoza Olmos, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said at a news conference on Monday.
The video was taken a few blocks from her home, he said.
The sheriff added that he couldn’t say with 100% certainty that Mendoza Olmos was in the video, but he said the clothing description matches up.
Salazar said authorities are releasing that footage “in hopes that somebody may have collected similar video.”
“This was the best direction of flight that we were able to develop,” he said.
Salazar told ABC News on Sunday that sheriff’s deputies and volunteers have been searching around the clock for Mendoza Olmos.
“Camila’s mother stated that Camila normally goes for a morning walk; however, she became concerned when Camila did not return within a reasonable period of time,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Multiple agencies have joined the search, including the FBI, which is providing technical assistance, and the Department of Homeland Security, which is monitoring border crossings and international travel, Salazar said.
“We definitely don’t want to miss anything,” Salazar said. “… We’re also not ruling out that this case may take us outside the borders of the continental United States.”
Salazar confirmed that Mendoza Olmos was not detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, despite her being a U.S. citizen.
“That was a personal concern. So, I had it checked to make sure that there were no stops, no detentions, and that she’s not somewhere in a federal detention facility. That is something we needed to check,” Salazar said.
The only items she took with her were her car keys and possibly her driver’s license, authorities said.
Salazar noted that it was unusual for Mendoza Olmos to leave her phone at home, saying she leads an active lifestyle and it’s “highly unusual” that she hasn’t returned.
“That’s why we’re working basically around the clock on this case,” Salazar said.
He said Mendoza Olmos recently went through a romantic breakup, but authorities said the breakup was mutual and don’t suspect anything “nefarious” was involved, saying everyone close to her is cooperating.
While Salazar would not disclose some details of Mendoza Olmos’s disappearance, he said there was enough information to suggest she is in “imminent danger.”
Salazar requested help from the community in the search, asking neighbors of Mendoza Olmos to check their surveillance cameras for any footage of the teenagers.
She was last seen wearing a baby-blue and black hoodie, baby-blue pajama bottoms and white shoes. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at (210)335-6000 or the BCSO Missing Persons Unit via missingpersons@bexar.org.
(NEW YORK) — A person was shot in an incident involving U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona, a Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson told ABC News.
The shooting occurred early Tuesday morning, the Santa Rita Fire District said. Emergency responders provided first aid at the scene and the person was taken to a hospital in unknown condition, officials said.
The sheriff’s office said it’s working with the FBI and Customs and Border Protection.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad, escorted by heavily armed Federal agents as they make their way into an armored car en route to a Federal courthouse in Manhattan on January 5, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by XNY/Star Max/GC Images)
(NEW YORK) — Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are set to return to a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday for a status conference that could determine the trajectory of the criminal case against them.
Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty to federal charges including narco-terrorism during their first appearance in court in January, and their attorneys have since pushed to have the case dismissed over concerns that the Trump administration is blocking the Venezuelan government from paying their legal fees.
For more than a decade, Maduro enjoyed an opulent life as Venezuela’s president, living in the neoclassical palace in Caracas and accruing a net worth reportedly in the millions. He allegedly owned multiple mansions, two private jets, millions in jewelry and cash, a horse farm, and a fleet of luxury vehicles.
But as he awaits trial in a Brooklyn jail cell, the ousted head of state is now pushing to have his case dismissed by arguing he doesn’t have enough money to pay for his own legal defense — and his lawyers argue his due process rights will be violated if Venezuela is unable to pay for his lawyers because of U.S. sanctions on the country.
“I understand that the government of Venezuela is prepared to fund my legal defense and it is my expectation that it will,” Maduro said in a sworn declaration. “I have relied on this expectation and cannot afford to pay for my own legal defense.”
As the Trump administration gradually warms relations with Venezuela, Thursday’s hearing marks the second time that the ousted Venezuelan leader has appeared in a United States courtroom since special operations forces captured him in Caracas in January.
During the status conference on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein is expected to hear from both sides about how the case will progress toward a trial, including what pre-trial motions the defense plans to make and how much evidence has been turned over by prosecutors.
In a move that triggered an international outcry, Maduro was captured and brought to the U.S. in January after the United States carried out what President Trump described as a “large scale strike” in the Venezuelan capital.
Maduro’s attorneys seek dismissal
Last month, attorneys for Maduro and Flores asked the court to dismiss the indictment after the Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OLFAC) restricted the ability for Venezuela to pay for their legal fees.
Defense lawyers argue that the couple’s Sixth Amendment and due process rights would be violated if Venezuela is unable to financially support Maduro, who Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodriguez says is still “the legitimate president” of the country.
“The conduct of the United States government not only undermines Mr. Maduro’s rights but also this Court’s mandate to provide a fair trial to all defendants who come before it in accordance with the protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution,” Maduro’s attorney Barry Pollack said in a motion last month.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York have pushed back on the request, arguing that Maduro and Flores are still allowed to access their own money to pay for their legal defense. While the Treasury Department initially allowed Venezuela to pay for their legal defense, prosecutors said the authorization was an “administrative error” and denied that the decision to change the terms of their license was targeted.
“OFAC’s Longstanding sanctions regime predated the initiation of the criminal charges the defendants now face and was instituted for purposes completely separate from the criminal charges currently pending before this Court,” defense lawyers said. “The defendants’ attempts to portray OFAC’s sanctions as a targeted attack on the defendants and their rights are misleading and undermined by the facts and chronology of this case and OFAC’s independent decision-making.”
Defense attorneys expressed skepticism about that argument by highlighting that the Trump administration has recently issued multiple licenses to allow the export of Venezuelan oil and other goods despite the existing sanctions.
“There is no apparent reason why the use of Venezuelan funds to pay for the legal defense in this case jeopardizes national security and the government offers none,” defense attorneys said. “The national security emergency rationale that the government invokes, without explaining, has even less force now that the government has normalized relations with the government of Venezuela and recognized the current Venezuelan government.”
While the issue is fully briefed, the judge could opt to set a separate hearing on the motion.
‘I am innocent,” Maduro told the court
Maduro’s last appearance in federal court came just days after he was captured in Venezuela by U.S. special operations forces and transported to New York to face criminal charges.
After Judge Hellerstein summarized the charges against him, Maduro told the court through an interpreter that he is “the president of Venezuela” and that he was “captured at home in Caracas, Venezuela.”
“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” Maduro said to enter his plea.
Flores similarly pleaded not guilty after being informed of the charges against her and her rights. Their attorneys did not ask for bail or their release, though Judge Hellerstein said he would be open to reviewing a bail application in the future. In the meantime, the former heads of state have been detained at the federal detention center in Brooklyn.
As he was escorted out of the courtroom, Maduro responded to a member of the public seated in court who shouted at him in Spanish to say in part, “You will pay in the name of Venezuela.”
“I am the elected president. I am a prisoner of war. I will be free,” Maduro responded.
Maduro’s defense?
During his arraignment in January, Maduro’s attorney signaled that they will likely argue that Maduro should be protected from prosecution as a head of state.
“He is the head of a sovereign state,” said Pollack, added that there are “issues about the legality of his military abduction.”
Maduro’s lawyers have not yet filed any motions based on that argument, instead focusing on concerns about his due process rights after the Treasury Department cut off Venezuela’ s ability to pay for Maduro’s legal defense.
According to ABC News Legal Contributor James Sample, Maduro’s lawyers could attempt to argue that he is protected by “head of state immunity,” which is a principle of international law that the leaders of other countries are shielded from the jurisdiction of other country’s criminal courts.
“They will be arguing that because he was the head of essentially a sister sovereign of another nation, and he was doing those things in that nation, that the United States courts lack the jurisdiction, which is simply to say the power to hold him criminally accountable,” Sample said. “Whether a U.S. court will embrace that defense or not is a different matter, but it is not a frivolous argument.”
Former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, who was never elected president, unsuccessfully attempted to use head-of-state immunity when he was tried in the U.S. on drug smuggling charges in 1991, but a federal appeals court concluding he “never served as the constitutional leader of Panama.”
What prosecutors allege
The Department of Justice initially brought an indictment against Maduro and 14 other Venezuelan officials in March of 2020, arguing they committed narco-terrorism by conspiring with drug cartels to allow the flow of cocaine into the United States.
Nearly six years later, prosecutors filed a new indictment charging Maduro, Flores, Maduro’s son, and three others with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and weapons offenses.
“Nicolas Maduro Moros, the defendant, now sits atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking,” the indictment said.
Prosecutors alleged that Maduro allowed “cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit,” including by providing diplomatic cover to drug traffickers and money launderers. Maduro has pleaded not guilty and denies being involved in drug trafficking.
“[Maduro] is at the forefront of that corruption and has partnered with his co-conspirators to use his illegally obtained authority and the institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States,” the indictment said.
