LAS ANIMAS — A father of three who killed his wife by shooting her in the head in 2014 insists the marijuana edible he ate made him do it.
“There is absolutely no other situation that I can think of where I would do that,” said Richard Kirk, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 2017 for killing his wife, Kris. “For me, I know it’s 100 percent - it’s the marijuana and me ingesting it - is the reason that I did it.”
For the first time since the killing, Kirk spoke exclusively to Rocky Mountain PBS from the Bent County Correctional Facility, where he lived at the start of his 30-year prison sentence.
“I didn’t know it was my wife,” he sobbed when asked why he pulled the trigger. “I thought it was somebody else, I guess. That’s the only way I could have done it. I never ever once thought about even hurting my wife or pushing her or anything – let alone taking her life, taking her away from her three boys.”
Kirk denied accusations that escalating marital conflicts and financial struggles could have been motives for murder and suggested that more studies and research about edibles and how they affect one’s body and mind would be useful.
“I believe 100 percent that can trigger a psychosis in someone that is otherwise completely mentally healthy,” he said.
To read more from this exclusive investigation and what the latest research shows click here: https://on9news.tv/2K6sTr5.