Utah Mom Accused of Poisoning Husband Allegedly Witness Tampered, Concocted False Drug Story

explaining to my kid just because he's. not present here with us physically that. doesn't mean his presence isn't here. with us and he's doing these things with. us and he's you know here for birthdays. and he's here for Christmas Corey. Richards the Utah mom accused of. murdering her husband and then writing a. book about helping children grieve now. accused of something else witness. tampering we have the letter prosecutors. say she wrote in jail. welcome back to sidebar here on Law and.

crime I'm Anjanette Levy prosecutors in. Utah say Corey Richards has been busy. while she's been in jail awaiting trial. for the murder of her husband Eric they. say Richards has been trying to. manipulate Witnesses specifically her. brother Ronnie by asking him to testify. a certain way about her husband's. alleged drug use a lawyer for Eric. Richards family told law and crime. earlier this year that Eric never used. drugs Eric Richards died in 2022. prosecutors say Corey poisoned Eric's.

Moscow Mule cocktail with the powerful. narcotic fentanyl prosecutors say Eric. Richards had five times the lethal dose. of fentanyl in his system when he died. and that Corey bought the drugs to. poison him last year prosecutors want. the judge to bar richens from talking. with her mother Lisa Darden and brother. Ronnie Darden after finding the letter. in which Corey appears to tell her mom. to tell her brother to testify about. Eric richens using drugs one part of the.

letter reads Eric told Ronnie he gets. pain pills and Fentanyl from Mexico from. workers at the ranch and not to tell me. because I would get mad because I said. he gets high every night and won't take. care of the kids with me to discuss this. latest development in the Corey Richards. case is somebody who has prosecuted. cases in the past he is Josh Ritter he's. a former prosecutor with the LA DA's. office a host of a podcast and also a. frequent guest on Law and crime Josh.

welcome back to sidebar thanks for. coming on thank you so much for having. me. Josh what were your first thoughts when. you you read this letter and you read. the prosecutor's motion where they're. basically saying Corey Richards was. writing letters handwritten letters and. she had this in her cell it was found. hidden in a book and she's holding them. up on a video conferencing call so her. mother can kind of read these. instructions. you know it's not uncommon for. defendants to try to communicate with.

their family members or people on the. outside to somehow have. some influence over the game plan of. their defense and when I read first that. the prosecution had made this motion for. a no contact I thought it must be. something more serious and then when you. be actually read the letter you realize. this is really bad this isn't her uh. giving some notes giving some guidance. of kind of what the what the overall. strategy is for defense she is trying to.

orchestrate her entire defense and. beyond that it's not just telling people. what type of evidence would be most. helpful what uh areas of. um testimony they could concentrate on. she's trying to get them to manufacture. testimony she's trying to get them to. lie I mean there's no two ways of. putting this you're trying to get people. to lie on her behalf because she feels. that it will somehow benefit for defense. and I think that this not only will. backfire upon her uh it's going to be. very hurtful uh for her at trial I mean.

this is devastating stuff as far as. consciousness of guilt evidence the. thing that's interesting to me about. this as well is that she's writing all. of these things trying to get her. brother Ronnie to say that yes indeed. Eric used drugs when Eric's attorneys. well the attorney for Eric's sisters. basically told us earlier this year Eric. had no history of drug use he did not. use drugs we have this coupled with the. fact that the prosecution says that he.

was fearing that she was trying to kill. him that she may be trying to poison him. so this is something he suspected in the. past yeah and we're really getting a. glimpse inside of her mind I mean we we. know that she's been accused of all of. these really awful things of this. deliberate type of planning and. manipulation and now you really begin to. see her thought process that she she. actually does sound like the person that. the prosecution believes her to be with. this type of manipulation and the story.

she wants them to tell as far as the. drug use there is this whole episode in. the letter about how she wants him to. talk about how he would smuggle drugs. back to from Mexico but plant it on her. possessions as if to blame it on her so. she had this elaborate kind of scheme. that put together it's going to be. um I imagine that prosecution is going. to use this greatly to their benefit the. fact that she's holding these up on a.

video conferencing call I mean these. calls we all know are monitored whether. it's a jail phone call or a video. conferencing call you you have the. ability to to use these things but. they're always going to be listening. especially in a case as high profile as. this where a man lost his life you know. to murder according to the prosecution. and you have a defendant. um this is a big case it's a high. profile case of course they're going to. be reading everything she writes they're.

going to be looking at everything she. does as far as communication goes and. they're going to be listening to all of. her jail calls. um the ones that aren't privileged you. would hope that they're not listening in. on her attorney with her of course. yeah and she seems to be very. conscientious of that she even talks. about in the letter that she believes. that the mother's phone might be uh. capped so she's very conscientious of. the fact that she's being watched they. believe that she may have just correct. uh they believed that she uh may have.

written a previous letter the letter. that we're talking about that she put. placed up to the glass and then. destroyed that so in one sense she's. very. um like I said cognizant of the fact. that she's being watched and listened to. and in the other sense she's incredibly. sloppy like you said they're not going. to notice that she's placing these. letters up to the glass it's just a. little a little too cute for for uh law. enforcement and the guards not to notice.

that she's trying to secretly pass. messages onto her mother it actually too. now we're talking about it who get her. mother into some hot water as well most. definitely especially if her mother was. potentially passing along these messages. I just want to read a couple of quotes. from the letter at one point Corey is uh. accused of writing the connection has to. be made with Mexico and drugs Ronnie. this is her brother her mom is Lisa. Ronnie will have the messages to prove.

Eric confided in him about getting hide. like to know where these messages are. are coming from because I would think. that that would have to mean a text. message or a social media message and. then she says upon information and. belief LOL it's almost like she's kind. of making fun of or kind of trying to. make a joke based on how these legal. filings are written you know it'll say. upon information and belief we believe. you know Corey Richards did X Y and Z on. this date so she's almost making a joke.

of it with the lol after that. yeah I thought that was really kind of. disturbing quite honestly she puts that. she she makes these little jokes. throughout the letter and what we're. talking about here is covering up her. murder and getting people to lie on her. behalf on the stand at her murder trial. and yet to her it's all just kind of a. joke and you throughout the letter. there's also this um kind of. cheerleading aspect she keeps on telling.

her mother we're almost there we're. gonna get there you know we just gotta. we just gotta fight through all this and. we're gonna get through this whole thing. and you can tell. um the the aspects of her personality. that are very controlling very. narcissistic she wants to be in charge. of everything even Behind Bars she's. still trying to pull the strings on this. whole thing. it most certainly appears that way now. her her lawyers would argue that you. know this was maybe a privileged. communication there was some type of. envelope found in her cell that said it.

was going to her attorney. um and that that's where uh you know. some of these items were found one of. the letters apparently she's accused of. writing two of these letters one is. missing so they think she may have. flushed it down the toilet but if you're. Corey richards's lawyer I mean what do. you do with this you you get this motion. from the prosecution basically accusing. your client of trying to tamper with. Witnesses and trying to get your brother. to lie for you at trial and testify a. certain way and now you've got to.

contend with this along with all of the. other evidence so if you're her defense. attorney what do you do there's not much. you can't do it's devastating uh as far. as any argument that the police should. not have been able to toss or sell or. that they don't have any uh ability to. listen into her conversations all of. that's out the window there's absolutely. zero expectation of privacy for what you. have inside of a jail cell or for these. conversations they warn you in fact. before you have these conversations that.

they're being recorded and monitored so. there's no argument to be made there. that this was some sort of privileged. conversation I think what they do is. they try to say that oh you're. misinterpreting it this is more about. her uh highlighting for her mother. what's important for their defense so. she understands the strategy behind it. but again she goes so specifically into. the things that she wants said and how. she wants it said and you know giving. him the idea that keep it short but.

here's the points that we really need to. hammer home and it becomes obvious in. reading the letter that this isn't. things that were true that she wants him. to make sure to remember to testify to. it becomes obvious that these are things. that are not true that she wants him to. fabricate in his testimony so Corey. Richards you know she's in custody. obviously she may she may lose also. visitation privileges I mean it's. entirely possible that the jail decides. you know what we're not we're not doing. this she's not going to be allowed to.

have any visitation with anybody except. her lawyer. yeah and I actually thought the. prosecution was being very reasonable. and their requests they were saying. listen at this point we're not asking. that she have no contact with anyone but. certainly with her mother and these. other family members who looked like. they were taking part in this conspiracy. but I agree with you if if there's any. further evidence that she's trying to. somehow influence people and their. testimony uh from her own jail cell.

they'll shut it down completely and. you're right I don't think they can. limit her ability to speak to her. lawyers she's got constitutional rights. attended to that but I do think that it. could end up with her only being allowed. to speak to her lawyer. is there any way you can look at this. that makes it look good for Corey. Richards is there anything you could see. as a defense attorney looking at this. and saying well you know maybe this is. true maybe there is that maybe this. evidence is sitting around out there I. think that's the way that they're gonna.

have to color it is say listen she's not. telling them to make things up she's. reminding them of things that took place. that they need to remember to explain to. the jury that this that he did have a. drug problem that he was trying to get. drugs from Mexico and blame it upon me. that that this was this ongoing problem. that she was dealing with. um and try to say that that you know. you're just viewing this in the wrong. light. I don't I don't know how far that's. going to get with the judge because. that's originally where this is going to.

be argued in front of because at some. point she's even scripting it where. she's speaking about herself in the. third person I mean it's almost like as. if she's handing the lines to people and. telling them here's the script put it in. your own words but this is the message. we need made tell Ronnie not to over. analyze it this is what she wrote in the. letter. um there's also another line in here I. don't get take vague notes of all so you. remember before you walked the dog so.

she's telling her mom to just you know. take note of all of these things make. some vague notes don't don't write. anything that could get you in trouble. but then before you walk the dog I I. don't know if that is some kind of code. or what uh but what do you make of that. yeah that was that stood out to me too. because the the the beginning of the. letter in huge lettering she has the. words walk the dog and yeah. I don't obviously this was a letter that.

was never intended for the mother to. take with her it's it sounds like it's. going to be another letter she intends. to hold up to the window and then. destroy so I don't know why you're right. that walk the dog was emphasized in the. beginning and then the last thing that. she happened to say to her was don't. remember don't forget to walk the dog. side you're right I I don't think we're. being a little too paranoid to believe. that that might have some uh uh. alternative meeting yeah she thinks that. she thinks the house is bugged and the. phone is bugged so maybe this was uh for.

Mom to walk the dog and talk to her. brother Ronnie uh Josh Ritter we'll keep. an eye on this thanks so much for coming. on we appreciate it. thank you so much for having me that's. it for this edition of Law and crime. sidebar podcast you can listen to and. download sidebar on Apple Spotify Google. and wherever else you get your podcast. and of course you can always watch it on. Law and crimes YouTube channel just. remember to hit the Subscribe button I'm. Anjanette Levy and we will see you next. time.

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