A jury on Wednesday convicted Aurora dentist James Craig of murdering his wife of 23 years by gradually poisoning her through protein shakes and pills over 10 days in March 2023, putting her in the hospital where he was accused of giving her a fatal and final dose.
District Judge Shay Whitaker sentenced Craig to life without the possibility of parole, the mandatory sentence for a first-degree murder conviction in Colorado. He was convicted of murder and other charges by a jury, which rejected his claim that he had helped his wife kill herself after he said he wanted a divorce following his repeated extramarital affairs.
Prosecutors said at trial that James Craig poisoned his wife Angela Craig over 10 days in March 2023. When those attempts failed, prosecutors said, the dentist gave his wife a final dose of cyanide as she was hospitalized in suburban Denver with symptoms that puzzled doctors. She was declared brain dead soon after.
Craig stood in a hushed courtroom Wednesday afternoon as the jury delivered a litany of guilty verdicts. His sentencing followed tearful testimony by Angela Craig’s relatives about the impact of losing her, including one of the couple’s six children who cast her father as a villain.
Angela Craig’s older sister, Toni Kofoed, lamented the loss of phone calls, texts and trips with her sister where they could laugh and talk through the night.
“You have taken away our opportunity to grow old together,” Kofoed said.
“Her life was not yours to take,″ Kofoed said in turning to the defendant. “Angela had a love and a passion for life. She loved her children and, unfortunately, she loved you.”
James Craig appeared to shake with tears as his oldest daughter spoke about how much she missed being able to talk to her mother about her life and how she felt betrayed by her father.
“I was supposed to be able to trust my dad; he was supposed to be my hero, and instead he’ll forever be the villain in my book,” the daughter, Miriam “Mira” Meservy, said, inhaling through tears. As Meservy spoke, Craig’s attorney patted the defendant’s back.
The couple’s son Toliver Craig said he and his mother didn’t always get along. But two weeks after she died, he set an alarm on his phone that still goes off every night at 10 p.m. It just says “Mom.”
“I’m sad there’s not more time with her,” he said.
James Craig declined to make any statement before being sentenced. Afterward, he was handcuffed and led out of court.
In court, James Craig’s family members sat on his side of the room and Angela Craig’s family on the other. But afterward, they hugged each other and shook hands, many wiping tears from their eyes.
Besides murder, James Craig also was found guilty of trying to cover up the killing by asking others to fake evidence and testimony that would make it appear that Angela Craig had killed herself or wanted to frame him for her death. He was found guilty of asking another daughter to make a fake video of her mother asking to be poisoned and of trying to get one fellow jail inmate to kill the lead detective investigating his wife’s death, among other things.
James Craig himself didn’t testify during the two-week trial, and his attorneys didn’t present other witnesses. The defense had suggested earlier that Angela Craig may have taken her own life and faulted police for focusing solely on James Craig as a suspect.
However, prosecutors said the dentist had offered other conflicting explanations for her death to other people.
Toxicology tests determined Angela Craig, 43, died of poisoning from cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient commonly found in over-the-counter eye drops, according to the coroner.
Prosecutors argued Craig wanted to kill his wife to get out of a marriage he felt trapped in, adding he didn’t want a divorce so he could protect his money and image.
They said photos from a hospital security camera shown in court depict Craig holding a syringe before he entered Angela Craig’s room. After administering the fatal dose through her IV, Craig walked out and texted a fellow dentist with whom he was having an affair, Senior Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro told jurors in closing arguments Tuesday. His wife’s condition quickly worsened.
Speaking after sentencing wrapped up, Mauro said Craig clearly wanted out of his marriage but gave in to “greed and cowardice” with murder.
“The jury said it loudly: Angela was not suicidal. She had no knowledge of or participation in what happened to her,” the prosecutor said.