An Arapahoe County jury began deliberations Tuesday afternoon in the case of an Aurora dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife.
James Craig faces six felony charges in the March 2023 death of his wife, Angela Craig, including first-degree murder, solicitation of tampering with physical evidence, solicitation of perjury and solicitation of first-degree murder, court records show.
The trial, which kicked off opening arguments two weeks earlier, on July 15, was scheduled to run through Friday, according to Colorado court dockets.
Both the prosecution and defense rested their cases Monday afternoon, without the defense calling any witnesses. Prosecutors called nearly 50 witnesses to the stand throughout the trial, according to reporting from Denver7.
“Angela Craig was innocent,” prosecutor Michael Mauro said, standing before the jury Tuesday during the trial’s closing arguments. “She had no part in her death, and the only person who says otherwise is this man, a person guilty of the ultimate betrayal: her murder.”
Mauro punctuated the statement with a sweeping hand gesture toward the table where James Craig sat.
“The devil’s in the details, and he can’t keep the details straight,” Mauro said.
Angela Craig, mother of six and the youngest of 10 siblings, died on March 18, 2023, from lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient found in over-the-counter eyedrops. It was her third trip to the hospital in a little over a week, investigators said.
James Craig purchased nearly 20 bottles of eyedrops containing the lethal ingredient in two days leading up to and during her symptoms, prosecutors said during Tuesday’s closing arguments.
Prosecutors said James Craig purchased, and attempted to purchase, a variety of poisons before his wife’s death, and alleged he gave her a dose of cyanide while she remained hospitalized. She was declared brain dead soon after and never recovered.
James Craig originally poisoned his wife’s smoothies and replaced a bottle of prescription pills with poison, prosecutors said.
They said he also encouraged a family member to give the deadly capsules to Angela Craig and used a communal work computer to conduct hundreds of internet searches about poisons.
Throughout closing arguments on Tuesday, the Aurora dentist alternated between staring at the table in front of him and the evidence posted on screens around the courtroom. At times, he turned his gaze to the jury box and stared with a furrowed brow.
James Craig’s defense once again focused on the man’s infidelity and its effect on Angela Craig’s mental state during their closing arguments.
“You know what, good job,” defense attorney Lisa Moses said, addressing the prosecution team. “You proved beyond a reasonable doubt that this guy is a cheater. … He is a serial cheater.”
But, she said, that doesn’t make him a murderer.
The jury entered deliberations just before 1 p.m. Tuesday.
The trial was originally scheduled for December 2024, but was delayed when James Craig’s original defense attorney, Harvey Steinberg, withdrew on the day it was supposed to start, citing ethical concerns.
Robert Werking, another of Craig’s defense attorneys, withdrew from the case in early July after being arrested on suspicion of setting his home on fire.
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