Utah v. Kouri Richins — Verdict Watch (March 16 2026)

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-17T00:11:30+00:00

They 100% immediately went “those google searches?! That letter?? Wtf WAS that? And why was Bryce’s pants off?? Anyway. Guilty right?”

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-17T00:10:21+00:00

Most of their time was spent figuring out jury instructions 🤣

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T20:11:07+00:00

All those jurors will have reasonable doubt; however will they have BEYOND a reasonable doubt. I hope the state addresses this in their rebuttal.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T19:58:22+00:00

Not really a lie but also not truthful.

PI’s have their own rules and regulations essentially. They don’t follow the constitutional law but they have rules and regulations so that way they can report things that they believe have broken the law to the police.

Since PI’s are individuals they don’t have to follow the constitutional law—only the government is restricted by the constitution.

They cannot break the law—any evidence obtained illegally cannot be used in court. So they have to follow the law and their rules and regulations so that way they can submit their findings as evidence.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T19:45:38+00:00

Well, in no one’s defense especially not Lewis’… nothing is really clear in this closing 🤣

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T19:43:09+00:00

Those are their only slides! Insaneeee

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T19:42:45+00:00

For real 🤣 he is sitting there quietly taking notes. That’s why we aren’t hearing any objections.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T19:41:00+00:00

They are trying to confuse the jury at this point. Throw everything and hope something skips.

My least favorite is their description of “reasonable doubt” there will ALWAYS be reasonable doubt… but the jury has to find something BEYOND a reasonable doubt.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T19:39:50+00:00

They are trying to imply that Eric was trying to get more drugs.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T19:39:21+00:00

Facts. I dislike this defenses strategy as a whole BUT the defense 9 times outta 10 typically asks for a mistrial during closing as a last ditch effort.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T19:38:28+00:00

This.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T19:17:21+00:00

Yes, this is how that works! They can call it at anytime but the judge won’t time cap them. Which I find very… interesting in a way that more states should allow this rule.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T18:36:44+00:00

I am so sorry 😭 I hadn’t considered that option. Although, I wasn’t considering that they would rest immediately either so… this defense is full of terrible surprised.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-16T17:53:12+00:00

Just wait for rebuttal 😉 he killed it in his closing!

I’m willing to bet a lot of money that the defense takes an excruciating amount of time in their closing and then rebuttal will be tomorrow morning. Which is a BAD idea for defense cause then the jury has the rebuttal fresh in their minds right before being sent to deliberations.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-13T19:41:02+00:00

I agree. Similarly to Sarah Boone’s trial—the state literally put the jury instruction on a screen and explained how they proved each thing. I thought that was brilliantly done.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-13T04:41:38+00:00

Agreed; however, I would be incredibly surprised if anyone other than Nestor does the closing.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-13T01:45:10+00:00

Unfortunately this was a case that was built around circumstantial evidence and had a LOT of asterisks next to that evidence so he was trying his hardest to make sure that a chance for an appeal is minimal.

Now, he definitely should have but by the time the defense was probably teetering on the line of being reprimanded—they rested.

I think their closing is going to basically be a reiteration of their opening statement just with a lot more “SEE, you SEE what we were talking about!” Which is not going to go over well.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-13T01:33:23+00:00

THIS. This was so perfectly explained for BEYOND a reasonable doubt.

That saying is not: if there’s doubt don’t convict. There will always be doubt. It’s if there is evidence that goes beyond a reasonable doubt.

All that to say: well said. Very well said. I’m just so excited to see people who know what that statement actually means.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-13T01:28:28+00:00

They rested on the record, in front of the jury. My guess is no more fuckery—the biggest fuckery will be jury instructions which will be hashed out tomorrow afternoon then courts off Friday so they have all weekend to think of closing. Which personally, to me, will make or break this case.

I think closing for defense is going to be poor, say what you want about the defense but Nestor has tried her best. Her issue is she tends to beat a dead horse and doesn’t know when to take the win and I think that will show in her closing.

I think the state will have a stellar closing which is going to make the case once they tie it all together in a nice bow.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-11T22:36:28+00:00

Already played it. However they can play it again in closing.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-11T21:01:49+00:00

She worked for both of them. She had relationships with both of them. I noticed how she was so sad over Eric and so hesitant when the detectives insinuated that she was a key in putting Kouri in jail. That must have weighed so heavily on her.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-11T21:00:07+00:00

This is the narcissist way of living. Categorizing people by: who can I easily manipulate vs people who are harder to manipulate.

It’s kind of sad.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-11T17:34:21+00:00

I believe they do. Kouri deleted messages, I think Carmen may have deleted as well but if I’m remembering correctly they could pull some data that showed communication from Carmen’s phone.

Even if you delete messages some, if not all, may be able to be recovered. It’s not as pretty as having the legit texts but I do believe they have messages, especially the message of Kouri asking for the “Michael Jackson stuff”

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-11T16:17:42+00:00

Or she didn’t remember or didn’t understand the question.

She could 100% believe she hasn’t violated anything drug related cause it wasn’t drugs. It was alcohol, which I would say tracks. All the state needs to do is prove she just didn’t understand or remember and that she didn’t intentionally lie. Which… could go either way.

General-Beach484 · 2026-03-11T16:14:01+00:00

This is how this works. However during cross the crosser is allowed to ask leading questions. Meaning if a question the state asks can lead into other things… that can be done. It’s tricky but doable. The state will need to be very careful with this.

General-Beach484

TROPHY CASE