Colorado dentist gave wife fatal dose of poison while she was hospitalized, prosecutor says

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CENTENNIAL, Colo. —- A Colorado dentist carried a syringe into the hospital room where his wife was bedbound with a mysterious illness, and after he left, she rapidly deteriorated and eventually died, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The syringe, they said, carried cyanide.

Prosecutor Michael Mauro and the defence wrapped up closing arguments Tuesday afternoon in the murder trial of James Craig in suburban Denver, and jurors began deliberating before pausing for the night with plans to resume Wednesday.

Craig is accused of murdering his wife of 23 years by gradually poisoning her over 10 days in March 2023, putting her in the hospital where Craig allegedly gave her a fatal and final dose.

One of Craig’s attorneys, Lisa Fine Moses, fiercely pushed back in court. The photos from hospital security cameras of Craig holding a syringe, she said, were blurry and the needles that were recovered by investigators didn’t contain poison.

After Craig was arrested on suspicion of murder, he was further accused of offering to pay others to make it appear his wife, Angela Craig, was suicidal and asking a fellow jail inmate to kill the detective investigating his wife’s death.

Craig’s motives in killing his wife, said Mauro, were to avoid the reputational and financial burden of divorce, cash in on life insurance and spend time with a woman with whom he was having an affair.

Refuting suggestions that Angela Craig was suicidal, Mauro described her as resilient and hopeful. “She is the ultra-marathon runner of dealing with this man’s betrayal,” he said. “But she couldn’t outrun it at University Hospital on March 15.”

Moses disputed the idea that Craig was in financial straits, saying they weren’t late on bills and owned a pricey home. As for his cheating, Moses argued, it had been going on for years, was known to Angela Craig and had never been a motivation for murder before.

“So you know what, good job,” Moses said sarcastically, looking at the prosecution, “you proved beyond a reasonable doubt that this guy is a cheater.”

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Craig’s defence attorneys didn’t dispute that poison — cyanide and tetrahydrozoline — were found in Angela Craig’s body, but that prosecutors failed to prove Craig had done it.

Instead, Moses suggested Angela Craig was “broken” by Craig’s years of infidelity and may have taken her own life. She pointed to a journal entry where Angela Craig wrote in 2009: “I feel depressed. I feel a huge sense of loss with no hope” — and similar entries in 2018.

As the entries were read, Craig wiped his nose and eyes with a tissue.

Moses said police were biased from the start against Craig. They didn’t search Angela Craig’s computer, said Moses, or find traces of cyanide in a smoothie shaker prosecutors said Craig used to poison his wife.

In the days before his wife’s death, prosecutors said, Craig searched online about poisons, including “How to make murder look like a heart attack.” Craig allegedly ordered several different poisons that he furtively administered to Angela Craig in protein shakes and pills.

Angela Craig went in and out of the hospital, her symptoms stumping doctors. She went brain-dead on her third visit and died days later.

James Craig didn’t testify, and his lawyers didn’t present any witnesses. In notes police found on James Craig’s phone, the dentist had written that Angela Craig asked him to help kill her with poison when he sought a divorce.

In the document, labelled “timeline,” Craig wrote that he eventually agreed to purchase and prepare poisons for her to take, but not administer them.

Craig said that he put cyanide in some of the antibiotic capsules she had been taking and also prepared a syringe containing cyanide.

According to that timeline, Craig wrote that just before she went to the hospital on March 15, 2023, she must have ingested a mixture containing tetrahydrozoline, the eye drop ingredient, because she became lethargic and weak.

Then, he wrote, she took the antibiotic laced with cyanide he prepared for her.

Angela Craig’s brother, Mark Pray, who was visiting to help with Angela Craig’s mysterious illness, testified that he gave Angela Craig the capsules on the instructions of James Craig, who was not at home.

Pray said his sister bent over and couldn’t hold herself up after taking the medicine. He and his wife then took her to the hospital.

Jurors have the option of finding Craig guilty of manslaughter if they believe he helped his wife kill herself.

But prosecutors say the only evidence Angela Craig wanted to end her life comes from James Craig, who they say isn’t reliable and allegedly tried to fabricate evidence making it look like his wife died by suicide.

— Slevin reported from Denver.