Grief Author Murder Trial: Pill Popping Testimony Leads to Fiery Exchange

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and who is judging.

Only your entire family, I sacrificed myself to this ancient tradition hoping to find

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Hey there folks, it is Monday March 9th and the third week of the so-called grief author

Murder Trial is underway and whoo, there was some fireworks in the courtroom today and

the jury wasn't even around to hear it.

Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ, let's start with this first.

Do you know what a red devil is when it comes to a pill?

It doesn't sound good.

It doesn't sound legal and it sounds dangerous.

Does it sound familiar?

It doesn't sound familiar at all.

Does it ring in the bells?

No, and actually I just googled it because this has been a huge source of or a huge topic

of conversation in the Corey Richens grief author Murder Trial because yes, the defense

is trying to blame the victim and trying to establish or is hoping to establish that

Eric Richens, the father of three who died with fentanyl poisoning, was somehow some

illicit drug user and used something called red devil when he was in high school.

When he was in high school is the key nugget there.

When he was in high school.

Yes folks, the third week of this trial is underway.

I mean, if you know the story by now, but it's happening out in Utah, yes, Corey Richens

wrote a children's book to help kids deal with grief and she wrote it after, according

to prosecutors, she killed her own husband by poisoning him with fentanyl by putting it

into his drink.

So Robes, the first day of this trial when they did opening statements, you and I did

an episode and it was one of the first things we say, oh, we see the strategy.

Blame the victim.

Yeah.

Is playing out?

Absolutely.

And that is what the defense was trying to get into official testimony, trying to get

the jurors to hear.

And yeah, she, the defense attorney got extremely frustrated.

It was very contentious.

I have not heard a defense attorney be that combative with the judge in any trial I've

ever witnessed or watched so it was interesting because yeah, you, you don't want to piss off

the person who is going to have a huge impact on what jurors hear, what they don't hear,

gives jury instructions and certainly ultimately decides on sentencing if your clients found

guilty.

So it was just an interesting, fairly explosive moment.

She's been like this throughout the trial and some just have that, okay, she's a little

more combative at times.

That's fine.

She's pleasant when she needs to be and say thank you and she'll smile, but yeah, there's

no way of denying.

So this back and forth happened today because of Cody Wright being on the stand.

Now Cody Wright, Rose, we talk about Cory Richens lover being a key witness.

This guy might be more key than anything.

It is so important.

Cody Wright is a good, good friend and he was the business partner of Eric Richens who

was allegedly murdered by his wife, C&E is the name of their company Cody and Eric.

So you've been hearing C&E a lot.

That's where it comes from.

So this guy knows him really, really well knows him so well and he's been testifying

Rose that no, I did know of him using drugs.

I never saw him using drugs.

He never certainly did this around me.

Okay, that's the basis and the foundation for some of his testimony, but then Rose

where the defense thought they saw an opening is because they asked him about drug use

of Eric Richens when he was in high school.

And so he mentioned he popped pills, pop pills.

So the defense hears that and goes, wait a minute.

This guy testified previously that he didn't know about him using drugs and now he's

saying back in high school, he heard about popping pills.

I thought it was a stretch, but they're trying to do their thing.

That is the basis for the argument that started.

The judge heard her out, but it came down to Rose.

There's a difference between using drugs and using illicit drugs.

It really came down to this court today.

It was fascinating to hear the back and forth between whether or not prescription drugs

that aren't prescribed to you.

If you use said drugs, can they be considered illicit drugs?

The defense was arguing that they can be and should be the judge.

Very aptly said, I think there is a difference between an FDA approved drug that is taken

by someone who it wasn't prescribed to versus someone going out on the street and getting

a non FDA approved drug.

And that actually really brought it home.

I didn't make sense.

She wasn't buying it.

It doesn't work for her client, but Rose, isn't that what is an illicit drug?

Is the question.

Correct.

And so illicit basically means illegal, correct?

Illegal.

Something you bought in a dark alley somewhere, something not prescribed, something definitely

illegal is an illicit drugs.

Is an illicit drugs?

Yes.

Do you find it?

I mean, the argument she was trying to make, if you stop on that for a second, he acquires

them in a way that they weren't prescribed to him, therefore that's illicit drug use.

But the whole point is the defense is trying to make some sort of other scenario in which

Eric Richens could have ingested fentanyl.

So if you are on the black market, if you are buying illicit drugs, could they be laced

with fentanyl?

Certainly we've seen cases like this in this country.

So this is what they're trying to establish.

They're trying to give the jury another version of how fentanyl could have gotten into Eric

Richens' system.

And so they're trying to establish that by suggesting Eric Richens was addicted to drugs,

was addicted to painkillers, would go about any means in which to acquire them.

So they were trying to set this up.

But the interesting thing about Cody Wright is that he is LDS.

He is a practicing Mormon, meaning not only does he not take drugs for religious reasons

he doesn't drink.

He doesn't drink alcohol, I should say.

He doesn't drink caffeine.

All of the things we basically know about LDS folks.

So her point was even if he were doing those things, he wouldn't do them in front of you.

He wouldn't tell them about them, sorry, tell it to you because he respects your religion.

He respects how you live your life.

And so wouldn't it be reasonable that you wouldn't know about his drug use or you wouldn't

know about something.

So the whole point is he had to talk about what he heard about, which is hearsay, which

is a whole big no-no in a courtroom.

So it was really fascinating to see how she was trying to get this testimony into record

or at least let the jury hear this suggestion, but she was struggling.

And it all boils down to she's trying to say this witness impeached himself, not perjure,

but impeached.

You said one thing and now you're coming back and saying something else.

The reason the judge is shutting that down is because lady, he's not impeaching himself.

He saw the guy pop a pill.

That's different from illicit drug use.

And he didn't even know what the pill was.

He said, I think they called them red devils.

We had to hear this phrase.

We had it heard it once rose.

We heard it 5,000 times in court today, red devil.

What's a red devil?

And apparently it's changed over time back in the 60s and the 70s, red devil was one thing

back in the 80s and 90s, it was another and today it might mean something else.

But this all boils down to a red devil that he thought wasn't even an illicit drug.

Well, yeah, it was not a it was not a high moment for the defense.

She pressed him on what he thought red devils meant because if you Google it, you'll see

that it's an addictive barbiturate, sedative, hypnotic, bright, red pill.

Okay, that's what she wanted him to say.

But instead he said, I think it's suit of fed.

That was a big whop whop for her.

The guy was believable in that he was clueless about drugs.

He was in that regard.

He just didn't see like it was in his lane.

Yeah, but for him to even go and guess that it was suit of fed really took the wind out

of her sales.

She wanted it to be much more potent and yes, an illegal illicit drug.

That's what she was hoping he would say that he thought it might have been something

like that.

Instead, he said suit of fed.

This is up in front of us right now.

What do you take?

You know, what do you take?

You've been watching closely of her reaction, her, not quite emotion, but her demeanor and

her reactions in court maybe last week and even today.

Corey Richens has does not have a poker face.

Let's just say that.

I have seen her many, many times raising an eyebrow, furrowing her brow, looking puzzled,

confused, annoyed and like absolutely reacting to testimony, basically calling it into question

in her face.

I can see it and you know the jury is watching her.

So she is having many, many, many emotional reactions.

She'll tilt her head if she doesn't think what they said was correct or the way she

remembers it.

She is absolutely expressive.

Is it just me where it seems like she's gotten more expressive as we've gone along?

Because we were staring at her, certainly that first week looking for anything.

Now it's not hard to find something.

Yeah, she might be getting more comfortable.

You know, she's coming.

This is week three of the trial.

She's been listening to pretty incredible testimony and I say incredible because I just can't

imagine being in that situation, hearing people talk about what I did, what I said.

And if, you know, look, anybody, even if you aren't on trial, you hear someone else

relay what they think happened in a conversation or in a moment.

And almost certainly you're not going to remember it in the same way.

So you kind of, you see her reacting to, visibly, to witness this testimony and you can

see she's in disagreement with a lot of what is being said.

Now this is the prosecution putting on their case.

So it would make sense that she would disagree with some of the testimony that's out there.

But certainly the jurors are watching her.

But we're talking about here how big of a deal.

This testimony is, well, stay here.

We'll let you hear how big of a deal the defense says this is.

In fact, they say if they were able to have their way in court today, it would prove that

Corey Richens is innocent.

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Welcome back everyone to Amy and TJ.

We are still riveted watching the Corey Richens trial.

It is day 10 in the grief author murder trial.

As you may remember, we told you, but this just, you can't make this stuff up.

She wrote a children's book helping her kids and other people's kids grieve with the

death of a parent and here she stands accused of murdering her husband and it has been

a very dramatic day in court today and a lot of the drama happened outside of the jurors'

years where we have heard the defense make or take issue with the judge not allowing

them to impeach Cody Wright.

That is Eric Richens business partner.

That was one of his best friends and they think they believe he has changed his testimony

that he went from first answering a question saying that he had never seen Eric Richens

his friend or never knew that his friend actually had anything to do with illicit

drug use and then the defense says, Hey, wait a minute.

Now he's talking about red devils, red devil pills.

I want to go back.

The defense wants to go back and call him out on it.

And the judge said, no, he didn't say anything different than what he said before.

And so the defense is now basically saying this will be grounds for an appeal if my client

is convicted.

And that's a look, that makes the judge pay attention.

He was starting to get annoyed with the defense attorneys round and around.

She started throwing things out like this is an impediment to a fair trial.

You are violating her constitutional right to a fair trial to put on her defense.

If judge wasn't having it, he gave a moment.

He said, you know what, prosecutor, I'll ask you, would you allow me to let her go ahead

and do what she wants to do on the defense side?

And maybe this eliminates even the possibility of a particular appeal.

The prosecution took their time and chatted about it for a second.

And then they came back and said, yeah, no, no, we don't, we don't want her to go back

and ask those questions.

It's not going to happen.

Not on our watch.

So they did take a moment, but so they know they know that by doing this, the defense

is absolutely going to pursue an appeal based on this, at least there could be more reasons

why they do it.

But they've certainly made it clear this is going to be one of them.

But you tease this going into the break.

The attorney for Corey Richens flat out said, if she were allowed to question Cody Wright,

the way she wanted to question him, that she could prove that her client was innocent.

She said, if Eric Richens, if we can hear that he absolutely was taking illicit drugs,

that he was using these pills or had used these pills called red devils, that would absolutely

prove that my client is innocent.

Oh, that was a little bit of a stretch.

This was high school.

He used some pills.

He popped some pills in high school, so that translates to now two decades later than

that proves he was a drug addict and therefore Corey Richens is innocent.

That was a bit of a stretch, but she used that phrase, if Eric Richens was a drug addict,

Corey Richens is innocent.

Period.

They really do.

It sounds like they're banking on convincing some eye in that jury that this dude, you keep

hitting them over the head with this guy having a drug problem and they might think he drug

himself.

Yeah.

We kept hearing today.

In fact, the defense attorney kept asking Cody Wright about Eric's back pain about Eric's

knee pain about his Lyme disease and how painful he said it was.

How often he may have missed work or didn't go to work because he was in pain.

So yes, they are absolutely trying to establish that Eric Richens was in chronic pain and

therefore the only way he could function was to alleviate the pain by becoming a drug

addict.

That is what they're trying to establish.

The last two things I will ask you make sure I didn't overlook one.

Have they proven, at any point, confirmed that he ever bought himself pills?

No.

They got the marijuana gummies, everybody knows about that.

They got the marijuana gummies.

Have we established yet that he purchased any pill anywhere on his own for himself?

Is that right?

Well, I haven't heard that yet, but we should say that the defense hasn't put on their,

their witnesses yet.

They haven't had their stab at bringing people onto the stand and then establishing them.

But no, so far, absolutely not that is not been established.

Secondly, have they established that they had anybody on that stand who says, yeah,

around Eric, he popped pills, he was addicted to pills.

Does anyone say that?

No.

The closest person who they were trying to get anywhere with on that about him taking

pain pills for being, like, back pain was his sister and she did say, like, periodically,

he would take a pain pill, but this wasn't something he did every day.

He tried not to use it, but every now and then, yes, he did have to take, I believe it

was oxycodone for pain for his back.

So I know that that has been established that every now and then, he would take a pain

pill.

Robes, this is, and the family, Eric Richens family's been in the courtroom and we keep

an eye on them.

You can tell, even on the stand, the sister that was up there, she does not like Corey.

Katie, okay, he does not like Corey.

And so watching their faces and to hear them have to sit through, I mean, their loved

one is dead.

Now, he is absolutely being attacked as some kind of a drug addict, a cheating drug addict

who killed himself by buying illicit drugs.

She's innocent until proven guilty, robes, but that's just tough.

Well, the family to hear, this is the tough trial in a lot of ways to listen to because

of those details, but my goodness, Robes.

Today was one of the more explosive days and the jury didn't even see it.

That's true.

And you know what, I do think, look, we've seen this before and it is a risk the defense

takes by trying to make the victim look responsible for his own death.

You do run the risk of pissing off a jury or pissing off a wonder, you know, to say,

how dare you accuse a man who can't speak for himself?

How dare you accuse a man who is no longer here and the woman who's on trial is now trying

to point the finger right back at him and he cannot speak.

He is not here to defend himself.

Not testimony continuing as we speak here on this Monday, again, third week underway.

The last we're keeping an eye on here, they still haven't taken a lunch break yet for

the day as of this recording, but they have handwriting expert up there who you keep

an eye on this, Robes, he's essentially testifying to what?

Yeah, there are several documents in question where the prosecution is trying to establish

that Corey Richens forged her husband's signature.

This is a crime where prosecutors claim Corey Richens committed this crime, killed her husband

not just because she wanted to be with her lover, but because she needed money and she

needed life insurance payouts.

She needed all sorts of funds to make up for the millions of dollars she was reportedly

in debt.

So yes, they are saying that she forged documents in pursuit of this and they have a handwriting

expert up there testifying to that very thing.

You know, I don't, it sounds crazy, but if I just close my eyes and imagine a handwriting

expert, this is the guy that would come to mind.

He looks for it.

He absolutely does.

He always ever is.

And before we keep it a close eye and ear to this trial, any of the significant updates

we will hop back on and update you.

We always appreciate you spending time with us.

I'm TJ Holmes on behalf of my dear Amy Robock, talk soon.

This is Chelsea, handler from Dear Chelsea.

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This is Sophia Bush from work in progress with Sophia Bush.

Bring the good with avocados for Mexico.

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Avocados for Mexico, always good.

This is Bowen Yang from Los Culturistas with Matt Rodgers in Bowen Yang.

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It's not just for intense gym sessions, it's just for life.

With a wide variety of flavors from capillata cake batter, it never feels boring.

It's a flavor for everyone.

I personally love the peaches and cream, but maybe you're a root beer floater, cinnamon

roll kind of person.

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Find your favorite flavor at premierprotein.com, that's P-R-E-M-I-E-R, protein.com, or at Amazon

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Beats to the planet, shall I mean to God here and listen.

We are back.

The Black Effect podcast festival is back in Atlanta on April 25th at Pullman Yacht.

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Don't play yourself, okay?

Pull up.

Then she says, have you seen a photo of my son?

And I'm like, who is this person?

Welcome to the Boys and Girls Podcast.

A ranged marriage is basically a reality show.

And you're auditioning for your soulmate.

And who's judging?

Only your entire family.

I sacrificed myself to this ancient tradition.

Hoping to find love the right way.

And instead, I found chaos, comedy, and a lot of cringe.

Listen to Boys and Girls on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts

or wherever you get your podcast.

This is an I Heart Podcast.

Guaranteed Human.