A Utah judge on Tuesday denied a bond request from a children’s book author accused of killing her husband.

Kouri Richins wrote “Are You With Me?” about dealing the death of a father after her husband, Eric Richins died from a drug overdose in 2022, as CrimeOnline reported. She was arrested in June 2023 and charged with lacing a drink she made him with a fatal dose of fentanyl.

Richins is charged with aggravated murder and attempted murder for what prosecutors say was a previous attempt to kill Eric Richins with a drugged sandwich on February 14, 2022.

“There simply are not reasonably available means of mitigating her risk to the community and to herself or the strong incentive for her to flee the jurisdiction of the court,” 3rd District Judge Richard Mrazik said at Tuesday’s hearing, according to KSL.

Mrazik did grant a motion from prosecutors to dismiss two counts of distributing a controlled substance and denied a motion from the defense to try to murder and attempted murder charges separately.

He did agree to separate four charges related to mortgage fraud which are alleged to have happened in 2021.

Further motions considered on Tuesday included one to have 12 jurors on the case instead of the eight mandated by Utah law. Mrazik denied that motion, saying that Utah law “may be on the wrong side of history” but that he took an oath to uphold that law.

He granted a motion from both sides of the case to select jurors from both Salt Lake and Summit Counties.

The trial for the murder and attempted murder charges — as well as two counts of filing fraudulent insurance claims and one count of forgery — is set to begin in April 2025.

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[Featured image: Kouri Richins at an earlier hearing/(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, Pool)]