Judge denies motion to remove prosecutors from Kouri Richins’ case

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah (Scripps News Salt Lake City) — Members of the Summit County Attorney’s Office will remain on the high profile case of Kouri Richins after a judge denied a motion to have them removed.

During a brief hearing Thursday, Third District Court Judge Richard Mzarik heard from both the prosecution, as well as Richins’ new defense team of public defenders Wendy Lewis and Kathryn Nester.

Kouri Richins appeared in court during a hearing on May 15, 2024. (Court TV/Pool)

Richins’ previous attorneys had filed the motion to disqualify the Summit County Attorney’s Office as a whole, or prosecutor Brad Bloodworth specifically, claiming he had listened to attorney-client privileged communication.

The motion also claimed that on March 26, Summit County Jail staff had read a notebook that Richins had tried to give to her previous attorney, Skye Lazaro.

Lazaro and attorneys at Ray Quinney & Nebeker P.C. were allowed to withdraw from the case earlier this year after claiming an “irreconcilable and nonwaivable situation.”

In his ruling Thursday, Mzarik said there was no evidence that Bloodworth had listened to privileged communication between Richins and her attorneys, except for occasions where he listened a “minimal amount” to identify she was on a call with her attorney and then moved on.

The judge added that no evidence existed that jail staff read Richins’ notebook, only requiring it to be scanned for security and safety issues before it would be allowed to be given to Lazaro.

Mzarik ruled, “disqualification is not necessary to maintain fairness,” and that Richins’ Sixth Amendment rights had not been violated by the Summit County Attorney’s Office.

Richins has been charged with aggravated murder and other felonies in the death of her husband, Eric, in 2022 . Prosecutors claim Kouri, a children’s book author, poisoned Eric’s drink with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl.

This story was originally published by Scripps News Salt Lake City, an E.W. Scripps Company.