A Colorado dentist has been found guilty of fatally poisoning his wife.
Following the verdict, the judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
James Craig stood trial for the 2023 murder of his wife, Angela Craig. Prosecutors claimed he purchased arsenic and over-the-counter eye drops and secretly dosed his wife through her protein shakes and gave her a fatal dose of cyanide while she was ill in the hospital.
“The evidence, the crime, the verdict and the sentence all speak for themselves,” Judge Shay Whitaker said while handing down the life sentence. “Dr. Craig unleashed a path of destruction as wide as a tornado and just as devastating — damage to his children, damage to Angela’s family, damage to his own family.”
Angela Craig, 43, was hospitalized three times over the span of 10 days. On March 15, 2023, when she was admitted to the hospital for the last time, she was put on a ventilator. Soon after, the mother of six was declared medically brain dead and taken off life support, officials said.
A jury in Arapahoe County found the Aurora dentist guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday as well as all five other counts, including solicitation to commit tampering with evidence, solicitation to commit perjury and solicitation to commit murder.
Prosecutors argued that he murdered his wife to get out of his marriage — throughout which he was unfaithful — without hurting his image. The defense, meanwhile, claimed the cheating led Angela Craig to be suicidal and that he was helping to fulfill her wishes.
In the weeks before Angela Craig died, authorities said James Craig used a computer at his dental practice and made searches including: “Is there such thing as an undetectable poison?” and “How long does it take to die from arsenic poisoning?”
Prosecutors said during the trial that while Angela Craig was hospitalized for the last time, he gave her a dose of cyanide through a syringe. A toxicology expert who testified during the trial said she had nearly twice the lethal limit of cyanide in her system at the time of her death.
Toxicology tests determined Angela Craig died of poisoning from cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient commonly found in over-the-counter eye drops, according to the coroner. She also had “extremely” elevated levels of arsenic in her blood, prosecutors said.
James Craig did not take the stand and no witnesses were called by the defense during the two-week trial.
“James Craig’s selfish and deceitful actions shattered a family, stole a mother from six children and attempted to manipulate those closest to him with chilling calculations,” 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office Amy Padden said during a press briefing following the verdict and sentencing.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro said the verdict “vindicates Angela’s memory from Craig’s attempted postmortem character assassination.”
“The jury said it loudly, Angela was not suicidal,” he said during the briefing. “She had no knowledge of or participation in what happened to her, which was that James Craig murdered her.”
Deputy District Attorney Osama Magrebi highlighted testimony from medical professionals during the trial, who “talked about a woman who was eagerly trying to figure out what was wrong so that she could get back to her children, to her family, and get better.”
A representative for Angela Craig’s family said they are “elated” following the sentence.
“She made every moment with her unforgettable,” Mark Pray said while reading a statement on behalf of the family during the press briefing. “This has been an incredibly difficult time for our family. We take comfort in the integrity and commitment by everyone who stood with us in pursuit of justice and our children.”
