Summit County has spent approximately half a million dollars on Kouri Richins’ aggravated murder case so far, with another $500,000 earmarked for future expenses in the 2026 budget.
Summit County Manager Shayne Scott last week presented the Summit County Council with an overview of new additions to the 2026 budget. The proposed budget is around $100 million total, an 11% jump compared to its 2025 counterpart.
Some of the increases, such as a 2.7% cost-of-living adjustment for county staff, are fairly routine. But one bullet point in Scott’s presentation was attached to a hefty price tag for only one expense — the defense of Kouri Richins in her upcoming criminal trial.
Richins, a Kamas mother of three, faces multiple felonies after she was accused of poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, and arrested in May 2023. Skye Lazaro, a private attorney based in Salt Lake City, represented Kouri Richins until May 2024. She ultimately withdrew from the case, telling the court that Kouri didn’t “have access to financial resources sufficient to retain private counsel,” and Summit County Third District Judge Richard Mrazik appointed a public defender to take over.
Because of the change, Summit County is now responsible for footing the bill for both prosecutors and the defense in what has become a lengthy and complex legal proceeding.
The Summit County Attorney’s Office is funded directly by the county government. Meanwhile, Salt Lake City-based law firm Nester Lewis, led by attorneys Wendy Lewis and Kathy Nester, is being paid for its work on the case through a specialized contract with the county.
Summit County Deputy Manager Janna Young said the county has spent over $963,000 on its public defender budget in 2025, with 56% of the funds — or $541,538 — going toward the Richins trial and Nester Lewis contract between January and September.
Young said that “a majority” of the additional $700,000 requested in the 2026 budget is to fund the Richins case, which is set for trial in February, but some of the money will go toward judicial contracts and other miscellaneous expenses.
In an email to The Park Record, Young clarified the proposed 2026 budget includes a total of $1.1 million for public defender operations, with around half — $500,000 — specifically earmarked for the Richins case.
Kouri Richins is charged with aggravated murder and attempted homicide, first-degree felonies, as well as two counts of second-degree felony insurance fraud and forgery, a third-degree felony. She has entered not guilty pleas for each count.
Mrazik last week denied releasing Kouri Richins on bail for a third time since her arrest. Her criminal trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 23, 2026, and is expected to last five weeks.
The County Attorney’s Office filed a separate felony case against Kouri Richins in June for financial crimes dating back to June 2021. In that case, she’s charged with five counts of mortgage fraud, five counts of forgery, seven counts of issuing a bad check, seven counts of money laundering, one count of communications fraud and one count of a pattern of unlawful activity.
However, Young said it was difficult to separate the funding for the aggravated murder charge from the alleged financial crimes.
“I imagine a lot of the work the defense counsel has already done will apply to or be used in the new case,” she explained. “This is precisely why we chose to hire the same defense team to handle the financial crimes case — so a new team wouldn’t have to start over with the discovery and spend hours getting up to speed on the charges, evidence and issues, saving the county and taxpayers money.”
Richins is scheduled to have her initial appearance in the financial crimes case on Friday, Dec. 5.