A Colorado jury on Wednesday convicted a former dentist of murder in his wife's death by dosing her protein shakes with a poisonous cocktail that included medication found in eye drops.
The Arapahoe County jury found James Craig, 47, guilty of first-degree murder in the March 2023 killing of Angela Craig, 43.
The panel reached its verdict on the second day of deliberations, finding him guilty of several other counts, including solicitation to commit murder.
That charge centered on Craig’s efforts to enlist a fellow inmate to kill a detective who had investigated his wife’s death.
He was acquitted of just one charge — manslaughter.
After several of Angela Craig's family members offered victim impact statements that recounted fond memories of her and condemned James Craig, Arapahoe County District Judge Shay Whitaker sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 33 years for the additional counts.
"Dr. Craig unleashed a path of destruction as wide as a tornado and just as devastating," she said. "Damage to his children, damage to Angela’s family, damage to his own family. None of the individuals that are here in the courtroom before the court today will ever be the same."
Neither Craig nor his attorneys spoke before Whitaker imposed his sentence.
In closing arguments Tuesday, prosecutor Michael Mauro said Craig, a father of six, killed his wife after having cheated on her for most of their 23 years together and developed a fatal plot to escape their marriage.
James Craig's defense countered that Angela Craig, of Aurora, died by suicide. Attorney Lisa Fine Moses told the jury that her client's “constant” cheating was a motive for Angela to take her own life.
"Twenty-some years of him cheating on Angela Craig — he broke her," Moses said. "He broke her heart, her soul."
Angela Craig was hospitalized on March 15, 2023, and died three days later after a severe seizure.
The Arapahoe County coroner initially believed that a fatal dose of arsenic and cyanide killed her, though her death was later attributed to cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, the medication used in eye drops.
Authorities highlighted Craig’s online search history — he sought information about whether arsenic was detectable in an autopsy — and his online purchases. Weeks before his wife’s death, James Craig ordered potassium cyanide from Amazon and had it delivered to his dental practice, according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant.
“This is not a man who wants to get divorced,” Mauro, senior chief deputy prosecutor with Colorado’s 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, said in his closing argument.
“If he wants to get divorced, she’s serving it up to him on a silver platter,” he said.
Other motives, Mauro said, were financial — Craig wanted his wife’s money — and appearances. He didn’t want to be tainted by a divorce, Mauro said.
Angela Craig's protein shakes, Mauro said, became his murder weapon.
Moses said the prosecution presented no evidence that James Craig was the person who dosed the shakes.
“They want you to guess,” she said. “You don’t get to guess. You do not know if this was voluntarily or involuntarily ingested.”
