PARK CITY, UTAH — Judge Richard Mrazik sentenced Kouri Richins to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Monday for the aggravated murder of her husband, Eric Richins, in 2022. The sentencing in Utah fell on what would have been Eric Richins's 44th birthday.

Mrazik ordered that sentences for four other felony counts be served concurrently with the life term. Prosecutors had asked that the sentences not overlap and urged the judge to impose life without parole.

Kouri Richins, a 35-year-old real estate agent with a house-flipping business, was convicted in March of lacing her husband's cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. Jurors also found her guilty of four other felonies, including attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Valentine's Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich. After taking a bite, Eric Richins broke out in hives, injected himself with his son's EpiPen, drank a bottle of Benadryl and passed out. The jury deliberated for just under three hours before returning guilty verdicts on all counts.

Prosecutors said Richins was millions of dollars in debt, planning a future with another man, and had opened numerous life insurance policies on her husband without his knowledge, falsely believing she would inherit his estate worth more than $4 million. Jurors were shown text messages in which she fantasized about leaving her husband, and internet search history from her phone that included queries about the lethal dose of fentanyl, luxury prisons and how poisoning is marked on a death certificate. A housekeeper, granted immunity, testified that she sold fentanyl to Richins on multiple occasions.

Richins, handcuffed in front and wearing a neon green t-shirt over a grey long-sleeved shirt, addressed her three sons during her sentencing statement. "You boys are my world. The reason I continue to wake up every day and fight to come home," she said. "I promise you, boys, one day it will be over." She also said she had "done plenty of things I am not proud of," told her sons to "Be like your dad," and accused her late husband's family of cutting off her contact with the children.

Licensed therapists read victim impact statements from the three boys, who are being raised by Eric Richins's sister and her husband. "You took away everything from me and my brothers," one child said. In a memo filed by prosecutors ahead of the hearing, the oldest son said, "I'm afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family."

"My hope is that every person affected by Eric Richins' death will, over time, find their way to a state of peace," Mrazik said. Richins's attorneys said they intend to file an appeal for a new trial. She faces more than two dozen money-related criminal charges in a separate case that has not yet gone to trial.