National Roundup

Utah
No death penalty for mom accused of killing her husband, then writing a kid’s book about grief
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against a Utah mother who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death and is now accused of fatally poisoning him.

Prosecutors say Kouri Richins, 33, poisoned Eric Richins, 39, by slipping five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a Moscow mule cocktail she made for him last year.

After her husband’s death, the mother of three self-published a children’s book titled “Are You with Me?" about a deceased father wearing angel wings who watched over his sons. She promoted the book on television and radio, describing the book as a way to help children grieve the loss of a loved one.

Prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty after conferring with the victim’s father and two sisters, according to a court filing Friday.

Following a June hearing in which Richins’ sister-in-law called her “desperate, greedy and extremely manipulative,” a judge has ordered that Richins remain in jail pending trial.

Prosecutors say Richins planned at length to kill her husband, making financial arrangements and purchasing drugs found in his system after his March 2022 death.

Richins’ attorneys point out that no drugs were found at the family home after her husband’s death. They’ve also suggested that a witness, a housekeeper who claims to have sold Richins the drugs, had motivation to lie as she sought leniency in the face of state and federal drug charges.

Richins made major changes to the family’s estate plans and took out life insurance policies on him with benefits totaling nearly $2 million, prosecutors allege. Her attorneys counter that the prosecution’s case based on financial motives proved she was “bad at math,” not guilty of murder.

Richins, meanwhile, is facing a lawsuit seeking over $13 million in damages for alleged financial wrongdoing before and after his death.

The lawsuit filed in state court by Katie Richins, the sister of Eric Richins, accuses Kouri Richins of taking money from her husband’s accounts, diverting money intended to pay his taxes and obtaining a fraudulent loan, among other things, before his death.

Kentucky
Former prosecutor indicted on federal bribery, fraud charges
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A former Kentucky prosecutor was indicted for allegedly trading court favors in exchange for a defendant’s nude images, federal prosecutors said Friday in a matter that led to his impeachment by state lawmakers.

Ronnie Goldy Jr. was indicted on bribery and wire fraud charges, the prosecutors said.

The charges allege that Goldy solicited and accepted sexual favors and the explicit images from the criminal defendant, prosecutors said. In return, Goldy made decisions in cases that benefited the defendant and pressured other officials to do the same, they said. At the time, Goldy was commonwealth’s attorney for Bath, Menifee, Montgomery and Rowan counties in northeastern Kentucky.

The FBI arrested him Friday in Morehead, about 65 miles (104 kilometers) northeast of Lexington.

An attorney who has represented Goldy did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday.

The indictment listed examples of actions that Goldy allegedly agreed to perform for the defendant — who had been charged with multiple crimes in Goldy’s jurisdiction but wasn’t identified in the federal indictment. He sought her release from incarceration, asked for the withdrawal of arrest warrants, requested the postponement of a court hearing and asked another prosecutor to sign an order directing the release of the defendant’s impounded property, prosecutors said.

A former boyfriend of the defendant took screenshots of Facebook messages between the two and provided them to a Louisville attorney, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. The Courier Journal reported in July 2022 on the exchange of messages in which Goldy allegedly promised to help her with her criminal cases in exchange for nude photos and videos of herself.

Goldy, 51, was charged with six counts of honest services wire fraud, six counts of using an interstate communication to commit bribery and two counts of federal program bribery, the indictment unsealed Friday showed. Goldy was being held in the Woodford County Detention Center in central Kentucky. His initial court appearance was set for Monday.

Earlier this year, Goldy was punished by Kentucky lawmakers. The state House voted to impeach Goldy, and he was convicted on the articles of impeachment by the Senate in its first impeachment trial in more than a century. The action barred him from holding a future elected office in the state.

Florida
Caretakers sentenced for stealing more than $500K from elderly patient
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — A southwest Florida mother and daughter hired to care for an elderly person have been sentenced to federal prison for stealing more than a half-million dollars from their former patient.

Diane Durbon, 58, of Cape Coral was sentenced to 10 years on Thursday in Fort Myers federal court, according to court records. Her daughter and co-defendant, Brittany Lukasik, received two years. The court also ordered Durbon and Lukasik to forfeit their Cape Coral residence, two vehicles and more than $542,000, which are traceable to proceeds of the crime. Both women pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Lukasik also pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return.

According to court documents, Durbon and Lukasik were hired as caretakers for the 92-year-old victim in 2016. Durbon began unlawfully accessing the victim’s investment accounts in October 2017 by having the victim answer security questions over the phone. After being given authorization to speak to an account representative on the victim’s behalf, Durbon began moving funds to a money market account and then writing checks to her daughter. More than $231,000 in checks were issued to Lukasik between November 2017 and July 2019, prosecutors said.

Durbon also unlawfully gained access to the victim’s annuity policy in November 2018, investigators said. After cashing out the annuity for about $244,000 and depositing it in the victim’s checking account in January 2019, 92 checks totaling more than $372,000 were issued to Lukasik over the next year, officials said.

Lukasik and Durbon used the stolen funds to pay off debt and make a variety of purchases. They spent $26,354 for a vehicle, $17,735 to pay off a car loan, more than $29,000 to pay student loan debt and more than $100,000 on credit card payments, prosecutors said. Lukasik and Durbon also used the funds to purchase a duplex in Cape Coral.