By Nicki Brown, CNN

(CNN) — Opening statements have begun in the murder trial of Kouri Richins, a Utah mother accused of poisoning her husband and then writing a children’s book about coping with grief.

Prosecutors allege Kouri Richins, 35, killed her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl. She is also accused of attempting to poison him on Valentine’s Day, just weeks before his death.

“The evidence will prove that Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life,” Brad Bloodworth, chief prosecutor in the Summit County Attorney’s Office, said in his opening statement Monday. “More than anything, she wanted his money to perpetuate her facade of privileged affluence and success.”

Kouri Richins has pleaded not guilty to counts of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, insurance fraud and forgery. If convicted of the most serious charge, she could face up to life in prison.

Eric Richins, 39, was found dead in the couple’s bedroom in March 2022 with about five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system, according to charging documents.

“That extraordinary amount of fentanyl was intentional, not accidental,” Bloodworth said.

Earlier that night, Kouri Richins brought cocktails up to their room, then left to sleep in the bedroom of one of their sons, according to an account she gave investigators outlined in court records. When she returned to the master bedroom around 3 a.m., she said she found Eric Richins dead in their bed.

About a year after her husband died, Kouri Richins wrote a children’s book about coping with the death of a loved one. In May 2023, she was arrested and charged with the murder of her husband.

Prosecutors allege Kouri Richins killed her husband to profit off his lucrative business and life insurance policies – funds she could then use to support her struggling real estate business.

On the day of Eric Richins’ death, his estate was worth roughly $4 million, and his wife owed more than $4.5 million to over 20 different lenders, Bloodworth said. Eric Richins’ life was insured for more than $2 million through several life insurance policies, one of which prosecutors allege his wife fraudulently applied for weeks before he died.

A woman who cleaned Kouri Richins’ houses told investigators that Richins asked for fentanyl in early 2022, charging documents said. The woman said she bought more than 15 pills she believed contained fentanyl on February 11, 2022, and then gave them to Richins.

On Valentine’s Day, a few days later, Richins left her husband a sandwich and a note before leaving to meet up with her “paramour,” prosecutors said in charging documents.

Later that day, Eric Richins told two friends he felt like he was going to die after eating the sandwich, according to the charging documents. “I think my wife is trying to poison me,” he said to one. He told the other friend he broke out in hives, then injected himself with an EpiPen and drank a bottle of Benadryl.

In late February 2022, Richins allegedly asked the woman for more fentanyl, saying the previous drugs were not

CNN

By Nicki Brown, CNN

(CNN) — Opening statements have begun in the murder trial of Kouri Richins, a Utah mother accused of poisoning her husband and then writing a children’s book about coping with grief.

Prosecutors allege Kouri Richins, 35, killed her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl. She is also accused of attempting to poison him on Valentine’s Day, just weeks before his death.

“The evidence will prove that Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life,” Brad Bloodworth, chief prosecutor in the Summit County Attorney’s Office, said in his opening statement Monday. “More than anything, she wanted his money to perpetuate her facade of privileged affluence and success.”

Kouri Richins has pleaded not guilty to counts of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, insurance fraud and forgery. If convicted of the most serious charge, she could face up to life in prison.

Eric Richins, 39, was found dead in the couple’s bedroom in March 2022 with about five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system, according to charging documents.

“That extraordinary amount of fentanyl was intentional, not accidental,” Bloodworth said.

Earlier that night, Kouri Richins brought cocktails up to their room, then left to sleep in the bedroom of one of their sons, according to an account she gave investigators outlined in court records. When she returned to the master bedroom around 3 a.m., she said she found Eric Richins dead in their bed.

About a year after her husband died, Kouri Richins wrote a children’s book about coping with the death of a loved one. In May 2023, she was arrested and charged with the murder of her husband.

Prosecutors allege Kouri Richins killed her husband to profit off his lucrative business and life insurance policies – funds she could then use to support her struggling real estate business.

On the day of Eric Richins’ death, his estate was worth roughly $4 million, and his wife owed more than $4.5 million to over 20 different lenders, Bloodworth said. Eric Richins’ life was insured for more than $2 million through several life insurance policies, one of which prosecutors allege his wife fraudulently applied for weeks before he died.

A woman who cleaned Kouri Richins’ houses told investigators that Richins asked for fentanyl in early 2022, charging documents said. The woman said she bought more than 15 pills she believed contained fentanyl on February 11, 2022, and then gave them to Richins.

On Valentine’s Day, a few days later, Richins left her husband a sandwich and a note before leaving to meet up with her “paramour,” prosecutors said in charging documents.

Later that day, Eric Richins told two friends he felt like he was going to die after eating the sandwich, according to the charging documents. “I think my wife is trying to poison me,” he said to one. He told the other friend he broke out in hives, then injected himself with an EpiPen and drank a bottle of Benadryl.

In late February 2022, Richins allegedly asked the woman for more fentanyl, saying the previous drugs were not strong enough. Prosecutors said the woman bought more drugs o

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By John Towfighi, CNN

New York (CNN) — Stocks fell, gold moved higher and volatility picked up Monday as uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s new proposed tariffs continued to swirl on Wall Street.

The Dow was down 742 points, or 1.5%, in mid-morning trading. The broader S&P 500 fell 1.04%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2%.

After the Supreme Court on Friday struck down the tariffs Trump had levied using an emergency powers law, the president over the weekend announced he would hike tariffs to a new level of 15% on imports into the United States via different legal authority.

The renewed focus on tariffs, in addition to confusion about potential refunds, is clouding the outlook for stocks. Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX, jumped 14% Monday and surpassed 20 points, a threshold that signals elevated volatility in markets.

“The push and pull with tariffs is likely to be a distracting theme for markets for the remainder of the year, albeit with less volatility than the initial shock last April,” Michael Landsberg, CIO at Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management, said in a note.

The US dollar slightly weakened against other major currencies. Treasury yields fell as investors scooped up bonds.

Gold, considered a haven amid uncertainty, rose 2.9% and climbed above $5,200 a troy ounce. “Fear” was the sentiment driving markets, according to CNN’s Fear and Greed Index.

More than 70% of stocks in the S&P 500 were lower Monday morning. Stocks eked out a gain on Friday, but sentiment weakened over the weekend as Trump said he would hike his new proposed tariff from 10% to 15%.

While investors are grappling with new tariff announcements, Wall Street is also wrestling with lingering weakness in technology and artificial intelligence stocks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down roughly 6% since hitting a record high in late October.

The S&P 500 is just 2.5% away from its record high set in January.

“The key issue for markets is not just the tariff level itself, but the unpredictability surrounding what comes next,” Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com, said in a note.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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The post Dow sinks more than 700 points as tariff uncertainty roils markets appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

Análisis por Matt Egan, CNN en Español

La implementación de aranceles sin precedentes por parte del presidente Donald Trump ha inyectado una enorme incertidumbre en la economía global, ha afectado el crecimiento del empleo en Estados Unidos y ha aumentado los precios, de paso.

El viernes, la Corte Suprema le dio a Trump una vía de escape de su aventura arancelaria. Pero Trump dejó claro casi de inmediato que no la aprovechará.

Los jueces dictaminaron en una votación de 6 a 3 que muchos (aunque no todos) los aranceles de Trump son ilegales, lo que le da a la Casa Blanca una forma de salirse de los gravámenes a las importaciones más agresivos y potencialmente reducir el costo de vida de los ciudadanos.

Sin embargo, Trump no está dando marcha atrás en su arma económica favorita.

Trump sugirió que la Corte Suprema le dio permiso para intensificar su guerra comercial global mediante el uso de diferentes autoridades arancelarias para potencialmente aumentar los aranceles incluso más de lo que eran antes del fallo histórico.

“Si bien estoy seguro de que no fue su intención, la decisión de hoy de la Corte Suprema hizo que la capacidad de un presidente para regular el comercio e imponer aranceles sea más poderosa y más clara en lugar de menos”, dijo Trump en una conferencia de prensa en la Casa Blanca el viernes.

Todo esto sugiere que la nube de incertidumbre sobre los aranceles no va a desaparecer y podría volverse aún más espesa.

“Desafortunadamente, vamos a tener otro año de incertidumbre y caos. A Trump le encantan los aranceles y usará cualquier ley disponible para mantenerlos”, le dijo Scott Lincicome, vicepresidente de economía general y comercio del Cato Institute, a CNN en una entrevista telefónica.

Horas después de que la Corte Suprema emitiera su fallo arancelario, Trump anunció que impondría un arancel global del 10 % a las importaciones en virtud de la Sección 122 de la Ley de Comercio de 1974, una facultad distinta que no fue anulada por el alto tribunal. Durante el fin de semana, Trump elevó dicho arancel al 15 %, el nivel máximo permitido para los aranceles de la Sección 122, que también requieren la aprobación del Congreso después de 150 días, aunque Trump pareció restarle importancia a esta limitación.

Trump agregó que su Gobierno ya está explorando el uso de otras leyes que puedan emplearse para imponer aranceles.

Una opción que mencionó Trump es la Sección 301 de la Ley de Comercio de 1974, que requiere que el Representante Comercial de Estados Unidos realice investigaciones sobre acciones comerciales onerosas por parte de países extranjeros, pero no contiene ningún límite al nivel o la duración de los aranceles impuestos como resultado de esas investigaciones.

Otra opción que Trump planteó el viernes fue la Sección 338 de la Ley Arancelaria de 1930, que podría permitirle al presidente imponer aranceles de hasta el 50 % a las importaciones de países si considera que incurren en prácticas comerciales discriminatorias. La Sección 338 se deriva de la infame Ley Smoot-Hawley, a la que se atribuye ampliamente el agravamiento de los efectos de la Gran Depresión.

Trump también afirmó que la decisión de la Corte Suprema le permitía imponer un embargo total a los bienes de países extranjeros. El secretario del Tesoro, Scott Bessent, reiteró esta afirmación en Fox News el viernes e instó a los países a cumplir los acuerdos comerciales previamente alcanzados con el Gobierno.

Al ser consultado sobre si, al finalizar la implementación de los nuevos gravámenes, la tasa arancelaria será mayor que la actual, Trump respondió: “[Será] Potencialmente mayor. Depende. Lo que queramos. Pero queremos que sean justos para los demás países”.

La tasa arancelaria efectiva era de aproximadamente el 10 % antes del fallo de la Corte Suprema y actualmente se sitúa en torno al 4,5 %, según Eric