ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — Jury deliberations began early Tuesday afternoon after both the prosecution and defense delivered their closing arguments in the trial against the Aurora dentist charged in his wife's murder following 10 days of testimony from nearly 50 witnesses.
James Craig is on trial for one charge of first-degree murder, two counts of solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence, two counts of solicitation to commit perjury in the first degree, and one count of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. Five of the charges were added to this case during his time in jail.
He is accused of killing his wife, Angela Craig, 43, in part by poisoning her workout smoothies. Her cause of death was determined to be lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a decongestant found in over-the-counter eyedrops. She suffered through several bouts of sickness before her passing, and doctors struggled to determine why she was ill. Prosecutors argue James Craig also poisoned his wife through a medication intended to treat a sinus infection, and claim he administered a lethal dose of cyanide to Angela Craig while she was hospitalized on March 15, 2023.
He was arrested on March 19, 2023. His bond was set at $10 million on June 28, 2023. That October, he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
No plea deal was offered in this case.
James Craig's trial began on Tuesday, July 15, 2025.
You can read Denver7's previous reporting on this trial here:
- Opening statements/Day 1 - Tuesday, July 15
- Day 2 - Wednesday, July 16
- Day 3 - Thursday, July 17
- Day 4 - Friday, July 18
- Day 5 - Monday, July 21
- Day 6 - Tuesday, July 22
- Day 7 - Wednesday, July 23
- Day 8 - Thursday, July 24
- Day 9 - Friday, July 25
- Day 10 - Monday, July 28
Denver7 reporter Colette Bordelon was in court Tuesday and we are summarizing the eleventh day of the trial in this story. You can watch her report from Tuesday's proceedings in the video below:
During jury instructions on Tuesday, the judge said James Craig has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, claiming he ordered arsenic and cyanide at the request of Angela Craig so she could end her own life.
Judge Shay Whitaker continued to say that the jury can consider second-degree murder, criminally negligent homicide, or manslaughter if they do not find him guilty of first-degree murder. The manslaughter charge will appear on their jury instruction form as Count 7, and prosecutors argued that charge is related to the assisted suicide defense presented by James Craig's attorneys.
Prosecutors say James Craig was a "man on a mission"
Prosecutors began closing arguments in the trial against James Craig Tuesday morning by showing a black and white picture of Angela Craig on the exhibit screen. Prosecutor Michael Mauro declared "Angela Craig is innocent. She had no part in her death, and the only person who says otherwise, is this man," as he pointed toward James Craig.
Mauro said throughout the trial, witnesses for the People have unraveled three different false narratives offered by the suspect: That Angela Craig's death was an intentional suicide, that it was a "game of chicken" the two were playing with each other, and that Angela Craig wanted to frame her husband in her death.
After presenting those three narratives, Mauro said they all cannot be true, and "none of them are."
Mauro argued James Craig knew the "the jig is up" when his former business partner confronted him about purchasing cyanide and when the family home was sealed by investigators. According to Mauro, James Craig was aware that law enforcement might find the Clindamycin at the home or a syringe in the hospital — "so he writes the [iPhone] timeline, not knowing what we'll find and what he'll have to explain," the prosecutor said.
Previously, prosecutors have claimed James Craig filled Clindamycin capsules with cyanide. The prescription was meant to treat a sinus infection for Angela Craig and was prescribed by her husband, the trial revealed. That 2023 prescription was never discovered by law enforcement.
Investigators have also argued James Craig used a syringe to administer a lethal dose of cyanide to Angela Craig while she was hospitalized on March 15, 2023.
The iPhone timeline referenced by Mauro was written in the notes section of James Craig's phone at 1:03 a.m. on March 16, 2023 — not long after Angela Craig was essentially considered brain-dead. The note was within the phone when it was seized by investigators later in the day on March 16, 2023.
Mauro reminded the jury that James Craig allegedly tried to procure "fake" witnesses to come testify in court, under oath, to persuade the jury that Angela Craig wanted to set him up and gain leverage in divorce proceedings — but that Angela Craig "accidentally took that too far."
Mauro added that the jury would have to believe James Craig "is a reluctant participant" in his wife's alleged plan, and that Angela Craig was "hellbent" on taking her own life.
The prosecutor then laid out three possible motives for why he claims James Craig killed his wife:
1. James Craig wanted out of his marriage — Mauro argued James Craig was tired of getting caught in affairs, of repeating the cycle, but did not want to get a divorce.
2. Money — Prosecutors said financial concerns are a reason why James Craig did not want to get a divorce. He told one of his romantic partners that he was not happy, but he was stuck, and he could not get a divorce.
3. Image — James Craig did not "want to be the guy who left the mother of his six children to go out and chase other women," Mauro said. He continued to claim that the suspect thought it would be much better to be the grieving widower and chase sympathy.
Mauro argued that defense attorneys were using speculative doubt, not reasonable doubt, to convince the jury James Craig was innocent. Throughout the trial, defense attorneys have claimed the investigation was flawed and incomplete. However, Mauro said there was not any evidence that showed Angela Craig was suicidal "because that's not true. That's not the reality."
Mauro then argued that the defense presenting Angela Craig's journal as evidence in the trial didn't accomplish what they had hoped.
"What it shows is that Angela Craig was an incredibly thoughtful, resilient, and hopeful person — because this guy has been doing this stuff to her apparently since 2009," Mauro said, referencing entries from that journal the describe Angela Craig's heartbreak at discovering her husband's extramarital affairs.
Mauro stated that Angela Craig was the "ultra marathon runner of dealing with this man's betrayal, but she can't outrun it at University Hospital [UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital]."
He argued that Angela Craig was ready to leave her husband after Christmas in 2022, saying "this is not a woman who cannot fathom a world in which she's divorced from James Craig." Mauro continued to argue that James Craig talked her into staying in the relationship, because he did not want to suffer the consequences of a divorce.
If James Craig wanted to get divorced, Angela Craig was "serving it up to him on a silver platter," Mauro told the jury.
Mauro showed the jury words James Craig used in text messages while communicating with another romantic partner to describe his marriage — frustrated, stuck, trapped, hopeless, a problem, a situation.
He pointed out a text message previously disclosed in the trial, which was sent on January 14, 2023 to that same romantic partner, Carrie Hageseth, where James Craig tells her he is "not happy, but can't get divorced right now. I'm not suicidal, just stuck."
Mauro said after meeting another romantic partner at a work conference in Las Vegas, James Craig comes home "and gets back to work on his problem" by ordering the arsenic and by searching how to make murder look like a heart attack. Mauro pointed out there were no searches found about supporting a wife who was suicidal.
Mauro argued in court that after ordering the arsenic and preparing his wife a shake laced with the toxin, James Craig continues researching how to commit the murder.
Angela Craig was not participating in a "super secret suicide pact" and "had no clue" about James Craig's plans, Mauro argued.
Angela Craig's search history on her phone revealed a number of entries related to her symptoms, and trying to figure out what was wrong with her.
"If you believe James Craig, that's all an act," Mauro said, claiming Angela Craig would have been working to deceive anyone who came across her phone in the future.
"This is all just an act, just her flawlessly committing to the bit," Mauro continued.
Mauro reminded the jury James Craig was anxiously awaiting on the arrival of oleander, and emailing the supplier to make sure it would be delivered soon.
"Remember, if you believe James Craig, he was a reluctant participant," Mauro said. "Is this a man a reluctant part of a super secret suicide pact, or a man on a mission?"
Mauro then recalled when James Craig told the oleander supplier how disappointed he was his order hadn't shipped.
"This is not a reluctant person," Mauro said, arguing James Craig carried out Angela Craig's murder over the course of 10 days — something that was repeatedly said throughout closing arguments.
Mauro walked through several more instances in which James Craig was "a man on a mission" — by purchasing 12 bottles of eye drops in one night, followed by seven more bottles of eye drops the next night, and sending more than a dozen texts to employees about a cyanide package he was expecting to receive at his office — all the while telling Angela Craig he loved her and was excited to have her home again. At the same time, James Craig was texting his romantic partners, Mauro said.
"There are so many false statements by this defendant, it's tough to keep track," Mauro said, adding that to believe James Craig, "you have to believe that Angela Craig kept an incredibly dark secret — left no evidence whatsoever of this secret, acted completely out of character, deceived everyone... You'd have to believe that suddenly she went 180 degrees from her nature, that Angela Craig was ready, willing, and able to die a slow and painful death... ready to abandon her children."
Mauro also reminded the jury that while Angela Craig was "crashing" in the hospital on March 15, 2023, James Craig was sitting on a chair outside of the hospital room, taking pictures. According to Mauro, James Craig was also texting one of his romantic partners at that time. Prosecutors claim the reason Angela Craig "crashed" that day was due to a "lethal injection" of cyanide that James Craig administered while he was alone in the room with her.
At the end of his address to the jury, Mauro said James Craig wanted out of his marriage but did not want to get a divorce, "and into his lap falls a suddenly and inexplicably suicidal Angela Craig — he must be very lucky, in addition to being very convincing."
In all, Mauro said, James Craig "spent 10 days killing Angela Craig."
"Angela Craig was innocent," he said. "James Craig is guilty."
Defense says James Craig deserves better from "broken perceptions" of law enforcement
Following a short break, the defense then laid out their closing argument before the jury, which lasted for about an hour.
Defense attorney Lisa Moses began by arguing that the Craig marriage was "a broken" one, despite 23 years of being together.
"There was love in the relationship. Was it perfect? Was it broken? Absolutely. But there was love," Moses said as she began her argument. "There was cheating. Lots of cheating, and there were games."
Moses argued James Craig "wanted to be better," struggled with anxiety and addiction, and "was completely broken when he was arrested and sitting in jail."
The defense responded to prosecutors argument, which claimed James Craig murdered his wife, in part, because of financial issues.
"They owned their million dollar home outright. How many people get to say they owned their million dollar home outright?" Moses asked the jury. She continued to say the life insurance policy on Angela Craig was not purchased near the time of her death, adding that many people have life insurance policies on their spouses.
The other motive in the case, according to prosecutors, were the women involved in the extramarital affairs.
"The prosecution has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that this guy was a pretty crappy husband. He cheated on his wife, constantly," Moses said, tapping on the prosecution's desk. She continued to claim the cheating was nothing new for James Craig, so it would not make sense to be a motive in the case. Moses also referenced witness testimony from the lead detective in the case, Bobbi Olson, who said James Craig's demeanor is that of a flirty guy.
"You proved beyond a reasonable doubt that this guy is a cheater," Moses said.
Moses said that after 20-some years of James Craig cheating on Angela Craig, "he broke her. He broke her heart, her soul."
The defense then presented several of the entries from Angela Craig's journal which were previously shown to the jury. In those writings, Angela Craig talked about feeling lost and alone, abused and unwanted, and like she failed her husband.
One entry from January of 2009 says: "I don't just feel sad... I feel depressed. I feel a huge sense of loss with no hope."
Another entry from the beginning of 2018 states: "It almost killed me when he said he didn't love me and I wasn't enough."
There are no journal entries to reference between December of 2022 and March of 2023. Moses said, based on the older writings, Angela Craig's feelings had to have been "heavier" in 2022 and 2023 upon learning her husband was still having an extramarital affair.
Moses claimed the prosecution's argument that James Craig wanted out of the marriage does not track with behavior of the defendant when he was caught in an affair. For instance, when Angela Craig learned her husband was in Montana with another woman, James Craig rushes home "tail between his legs."
The defense then argued the home surveillance video submitted by the prosecution as evidence — which shows conversations and interactions between the Craigs in their kitchen at different points in time — has extensive gaps. Moses said there cannot be any speculation as to what was going on in those missing moments.
Moses said there was nothing unusual noticed with James Craig while he was at the hospital when Angela Craig was "crashing," continuing to claim no one found it strange that he sent pictures to Angela Craig's family of her in the hospital. Moses said there was a "rewriting of history" since prosecutors brought witnesses who testified that those things were unusual or odd.
She told the jury law enforcement "had blinders on" and "did not want to look at other possibilities or options" beyond James Craig as the suspect.
James Craig "deserves better," Moses said. "We all deserve better. You deserve better than lenses, blinders, and broken perceptions" from law enforcement, she added.
Moses expanded on this argument by recalling testimony from Dr. Kelly Lear, the elected coroner and forensic pathologist for the Arapahoe County Coroner's Office who testified last week. Lear ruled that Angela Craig's death was a homicide.
The defense said the coroner relied on what law enforcement gave her as evidence, and looked at the case "with blinders."
She asked the jury to "think about the perceptions and assumptions she [Lear] had when deciding this was a homicide."
Moses then asked the jury to "take the lens off of their [law enforcement's] narrative. Take off the blinders."
Moses said that if James Craig really gave his wife a toxin through an IV at the hospital that ended up killing her, "why walk out and say, 'Her arm hurts?' Why not just sit there and let the buzzers go off and go, 'Oh my goodness!' Why give anyone the heads up?"
The defense then argued the reason James Craig was searching for things like cyanide or eye drops and their toxicity, "was to maybe understand what Angela Craig was doing to herself? Was it to understand what was happening?"
Moses then pointed out that there are images of Angela Craig laying in bed with laptops and other electronics, and questioned why law enforcement never searched those for evidence in the case.
"Why? What were they so afraid of that they couldn't actually look at all of these things?" Moses asked.
The defense argued prosecutors wanted the jury to believe certain things James Craig said while disbelieving other statements.
"They don't get to pick and choose based upon what they want, based upon their blinders, based upon their perception," Moses said.
Showing a photo of the Clindamycin bottle found in Angela Craig's room with the words "Never Tested" beside it, Moses emphasized it was "unbelievable" that investigators thought the bottle was important enough to photograph, but not critical enough to confiscate and test.
The protein shaker bottle with a pink lid that was also on the nightstand next to Angela Craig's bed tested positive for tetrahydrozoline. Moses asserted that "you don't know who put the tetrahydrozoline in that cup. You don't."
The defense then argued that no one can tell jurors when or how the cyanide or tetrahydrozoline was ingested by Angela Craig, adding: "You don't get to guess in this. You don't get to speculate," and argued that prosecutors "have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt how and when" those toxins were were ingested.
"It's not as simple as the prosecution wants it to be," Moses said. "The reality of it is their marriage was not simple. Their marriage was complex."
The defense then argued James Craig made some "really horrible, awful decisions out of desperation and fear" while in jail, which Moses argued the prosecution wanted to portray as an admission of guilt.
She then asked the jury if they trusted the testimony from one of James Craig's former cellmates, who took the stand in handcuffs, beyond a reasonable doubt.
Responding to an argument made by prosecutors earlier, Moses retorted that the defense team has been infusing reasonable doubt into this case.
"It is not a vague or speculative doubt — it is a doubt that would cause a reasonable person to hesitate," Moses said.
She then asked jurors to consider what they were relying on as they deliberated: "When you're back there and looking at the instructions — are you relying on speculation?"
In closing, Moses then asked jurors to "look at the evidence they've provided you and the evidence they have not provided you... and find him [James Craig] not guilty of the murder of Angela Craig."
"He deserves to be found guilty"
In their rebuttal, prosecutor Ryan Brackley opened his argument by recalling how prosecutor Mauro asked jurors to protect James Craig's right to the presumption of innocence at the very beginning of the trial, saying they have never asked the jury to take away that right.
"He deserves a fair trial — his lawyers worked hard," Brackley said. "Now, he deserves to be found guilty."
Reiterating that James Craig is guilty of first-degree murder, "what separates this from second-degree murder is intent and deliberation," Brackley said.
Brackley pointed out that James Craig researched not only where to buy those poisons, but how much was needed to kill Angela Craig, speaking to that alleged intent.
Responding to the defense attorney, Brackley said prosecutors do not believe that what James Craig allegedly did was simple. On the contrary, they believe it was complicated and complex.
Brackley said detectives went back to both his home and his dental office to search for evidence a second time.
"When they searched the home for the first time, they didn't yet know about the Clindamycin. They read that iPhone manifesto the next morning," Brackley said.
Brackley, mentioning the seventh count that was added to jury instructions — manslaughter — claimed that other than James Craig's statements, "there is not one shred of evidence" that Angela Craig was suicidal.
There's no evidence Angela Craig asked him to order the poisons, no evidence she asked him to research the poisons, and no evidence she knowingly ingested poison, according to Brackley. In the defense team's closing argument, they showed a picture of James Craig with the word "dishonest" scribbled across it, in reference to his history of extramarital affairs. Spinning the defense team's argument, Brackley reminded the jury that the "dishonest" person is the sole source of the suicide claim.
Prosecutors said Angela Craig spent the last 10 days of her life desperately trying to figure out why she was sick.
"James Craig never said in any letters or the iPhone note that there is real evidence that Angela Craig wanted to kill herself," Brackley told the jury, adding that James Craig did not direct investigators on where to find such evidence and instead tried to manufacture it.
Brackley argued what Mauro reiterated over and over earlier in the day — jurors would have to believe Angela Craig made everything up: the texts to family, the Google searches about her symptoms, and the visits to medical professionals in order to deceive the outside world.
"You'd have to believe that this woman, who spent the last 10 days fighting for her life, was also spending the last 10 days of her life in this drama that she made up with James Craig," Brackley said. "Why would she do that? What's her motive to do that? So James Craig can go and be with another woman?"
Brackley went on to say Angela Craig fought for her life, and for her family — including returning home to James Craig.
He also read a text Angela Craig sent James Craig, which showed how she was trying to fight for her marriage, despite his infidelities.
"Your healing and happiness, this marriage, is more important than my day. You are more important than my day," the text read, as Brackley explained this was sent when James Craig had already ordered poison and was communicating with Karin Cain, one of his many romantic partners.
James Craig never broke Angela Craig's spirit, and she continued to fight for the children, family, and life she loved, Brackley asserted.
"Angela Craig was not broken. Her spirit was not broken,"Brackley said, acknowledging everyone has struggles, which can be amplified while raising children with a husband who has been cheating throughout their marriage.
He then added, "You know who didn't fight for Angela Craig? Him," Brackley said, as he pointed at James Craig, who was hanging his head.
Prosecutors then provided a timeline for the murder of Angela Craig as they wrapped their rebuttal, which Denver7 is presenting below:
- Feb. 25, 2023 — James Craig returns home from Las Vegas
- Feb. 27, 2023 — Dr. Karin Cain (one of James Craig's romantic partners) books a trip to Colorado; suspect starts to research poisons, orders arsenic
- Feb. 28, 2023 — James Craig continues to search online for poisons
- March 1, 2023 — James Craig continues to search online for poisons
- March 4, 2023 — Arsenic arrives
- March 6, 2023 — Angela Craig's life changes after James Craig makes her a smoothie. She gets sick and never recovers, prosecutors claim
- March 8, 2023 — James Craig orders cyanide, buys 12 bottles of Visine
- March 9, 2023 — Angela Craig goes to the ER
- March 10, 2023 — James Craig goes to Midland Scientific, a distributor of lab products, from which James Craig had allegedly ordered potassium cyanide
- March 11, 2023 — James Craig spends the whole day trying to get the cyanide package
- March 13, 2023 — The cyanide arrives
- March 14, 2023 — James Craig allegedly gives Angela Craig a smoothie containing Visine that night
- March 15, 2023 — James Craig tells his brother-in-law to give Angela Craig Clindamycin, which prosecutors believe was filled with cyanide. She "crashed" later that day in the hospital, after investigators argue James Craig administered a lethal dose of cyanide
- March 17, 2023 — James Craig goes on a date with Karin Cain
With that, the jury was excused and began deliberating shortly before 1 p.m. They did not reach a verdict on Tuesday, and will return Wednesday morning to continue their deliberations.
