(30 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Centennial, Colorado – 30 July 2025
1. Various of family and friends of Angela Craig outside of the Arapahoe County Justice Center following the verdict
2. Various of James Craig’s defense attorneys outside of the courthouse following the verdict
AP video by Thomas Peipert
STORYLINE:
A Colorado dentist was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after being convicted of killing his wife by lacing her protein shakes with poison before delivering a fatal dose of cyanide when she was in the hospital.
District Judge Shay Whitaker sentenced James 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.
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.
James Craig declined to make any statement before being sentenced. Afterward, he was handcuffed and led out of court.
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.
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