ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — Opening statements in the trial of a former Aurora dentist accused of poisoning his wife's smoothies and killing her in 2023 started on Tuesday morning, with prosecutors arguing there is no doubt about guilt in this case and the defense calling the defendant a "doting husband" but a "broken" person.
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, 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 also suffered through several bouts of sickness before her passing, and doctors struggled to determine why she was ill.
Prosecutors and James Craig's defense team spent the morning conducting opening statements and explaining to the jury some of the evidence they will see during the trial, along with who they will hear testify.
Prosecution opening statements: "There will be no doubt"
Prosecutor Ryan Brackley began around 9:15 a.m. on Monday. He showed a photo of Angela Craig and described her to the jury: She was 43 years old, the youngest of 10 siblings and the mother of six children. She "took care of the people around her," Brackley said.
But on March 15, 2023, she went to the emergency room feeling dizzy and lethargic — and never came out. She had been in the hospital several times in the days prior — James Craig's arrest affidavit also lists March 6 and 9, 2023 — and doctors had been unable to figure out what was happening to her.
Brackley started by describing three timelines in this case — timelines the jury will see converge over the course of the trial.
In February 2023, Karin Cain, a dentist in Texas, met James Craig — who had been married to Angela Craig for about two decades at the time — at a conference in Las Vegas and they started an "emotionally involved relationship", according to prosecutors. At the time, Cain was going through a divorce and had been separated from her husband for about a year.
After the conference, they talked about seeing each other again and James Craig texted her, saying "the problem is that I might be completely in love with you after three days. And that's nuts." The two made plans for Cain to come to Denver in March, with Cain under the impression that James Craig was going through a divorce and had his own apartment, Brackley said.
In late February, only days after the conference in Las Vegas ended, James Craig ordered arsenic from Amazon and it arrived on March 4, while his wife was out of town visiting family in Utah, Brackley said. The prosecutor said Angela Craig made plans to visit Utah the next year, showing "she was making plans to live," he said.
Prosecutors claim that James Craig and Cain sent over 4,000 texts, with 80 expressions of love, in their short time together.
Aurora
Affidavit: Aurora dentist purchased cyanide, arsenic before wife's death
On March 6, Angela Craig returned home to Aurora to her family.
She drank a smoothie her husband prepared for her and then started a workout. Soon after, she sent her husband a text saying, "... My stomach feels fine but my head feels funny and dizzy. Very strange," Brackley said. She went to Parker Adventist Hospital and doctors were unable to figure out the cause, so she was sent home, where she tried to do research on her own. That day, James Craig texted Cain saying, "Just for the record, I will never drug you," Brackley said.
That same day, an employee saw James Craig working on a computer after hours in one of his dentistry's exam rooms. The employee had thought it was odd since James Craig had his own office. She then received a text from James Craig about a personal package he wanted her to put on his desk, Brackley said.
James Craig also tried to order oleander, a toxic plant, but the company asked about his purpose for the order and he only replied with a question about it not yet shipping. He told the company he was a researcher.
After noticing symptoms similar to what she had experienced March 6, Angela Craig tried to go to an urgent care on March 7 but was sent home.
On March 8, James Craig purchased 12 containers of Visine eye drops from a King Soopers. He also ordered cyanide online, Brackley said.
The next day, Angela Craig started the day with a smoothie and her children later found her passed out. She again went to the hospital where doctors were stumped and admitted her to try to figure out what was wrong. Her condition worsened and her heart rate skyrocketed after James Craig visited her, Brackley said. But she fought to stay alive and stabilized over the next few days.
She was discharged on March 14 and again started to research her ailments on her own. Brackley said Angela Craig thought she may have had diabetes, a stroke or a heart problem.
Angela Craig was back in the hospital the next day, March 15, 2023. Earlier that day, James Craig had stressed to a family member the importance of giving Angela Craig Clindamaycin, which is an anti-bacterial. Brackley argued that James Craig put cyanide in those capsules because almost immediately after his wife took them, she became very sick and was rushed to the hospital before noon.
James Craig visited the hospital that afternoon, sent his brother-in-law out of the room and then left the room about a minute later, Brackley said.
Brackley showed the court a photo of Angela Craig in the hospital on March 15, but this time, he said, she was braindead.
That day, James Craig texted Cain — who had plans to visit on March 16 — that he was going to go "dark" for a while. He sent her a photo of Angela Craig intubated at the hospital, and then asked if Cain was still planning on visiting.
After learning about Angela Craig's state, the employee who had seen James Craig on an exam room computer after hours decided something odd was happening. She contacted James Craig's business partner and told him about the computer and the package.
Brackley said Angela Craig's blood draws on March 9 and 15 both tested positive for arsenic, and a test later in the day on March 15 showed a lethal dose of cyanide after James Craig had been in the room.
He was arrested on March 19, 2023. Denver7 obtained his arrest affidavit the following day.
The prosecutor touched on the evidence behind some of the other criminal charges against James Craig. Brackley said James Craig sent a letter to his daughter where he asked her to fake evidence showing his innocence and to tell authorities that her mother was suicidal. He also asked somebody to plant evidence and requested that a fellow inmate kill a detective who was investigating him, Brackley said.
The prosecutor said his team is not required to prove a motive, but there is one in this case: money problems and other women. James Craig's dental practice was not financially well and he had gone through "personal and business bankruptcy," he said. There were life insurance policies that could get him out of his financial problems, Brackley said. He added that James Craig had "a lot" of affairs and used a website called Seeking.com under the name "JimandWaffles" to meet other women. Brackley said some of those women will testify in court.
"There will be no doubt... that the defendant is guilty," Brackley concluded.
Defense opening statements: He was a "broken person" and she "wanted attention"
Defense attorney Ashley Witham started by telling the jury: "Broken. This case is about a lot of things that are broken."
She explained that the defense is not disputing that Angela Craig was sick and in the hospital, had poison in her system, or that she died.
"Really, the crux of this case is: How?" she said.
She said James and Angela Craig had a caring relationship, and called James Craig a "doting husband." Witham said this was on display on their home's kitchen surveillance cameras, which also had audio. The jury will see and hear that they were "very lovely" and hugging and kissing, Witham said. She argued that the couple's money issues were not as bad as what the prosecution portrayed.
"But the marriage was broken," she said. "You're going to hear evidence of cheating. But what's interesting and what the prosecution doesn't tell you is that this cheating had been happening for 23 years... This was something going on throughout the whole entire relationship."
They talked about the affairs behind closed doors, Witham said, and claimed Angela Craig wanted the family to stay together, which was important to their Mormon faith.
She said that Angela Craig's desire for her husband to be better "broke" her. She felt isolated at home and was very private, so she did not want to tell people about her marital struggles, she said.
Now, their children don't have a mother or a father, Witham said. She called James Craig a "broken person," explaining the solicitation charges as someone "who is in a very dark place because blinders were put on by law enforcement (and that) can sometimes lead people to do things out of character."
Witham told the jury that Angela Craig "wanted attention" and was "manipulative," adding that one daughter will testify to that. At this comment, some family members appeared shocked.
The defense attorney added that while James Craig was a broken person, the investigation as a whole was also broken. Once law enforcement learned about the cyanide delivery, they had "tunnel vision on the husband," she said. A journal that Angela Craig kept detailed her personal struggles and law enforcement never found any arsenic or cyanide in the home.
"The search of the home was very poorly done," she said.
James Craig is innocent, Witham said, and urged the jury to maintain the presumption of innocence through the trial.
Finding him "not guilty is the only verdict you're going to be able to render once you take those blinders off, once you start looking at this case and start putting that mosaic together," she said. "... When you start picking up those broken pieces, the only verdict that's going to make sense, that's going to fit with the evidence, is a not guilty verdict."
First witnesses describe struggle to diagnose Angela
Prosecutors called seven witnesses to the stand on Tuesday, all of whom treated Angela Craig in some way in March 2023.
Dr. Ashley-Alpana Rawloo Khalap Peko was working as an emergency physician at AdventHealth Parker when Angela Craig came in on March 6, 2023.
"I remember seeing a young, healthy woman coming in very concerned, knowing that something didn't feel right, something was wrong," Peko testified. "Something was very different in her morning, and she couldn't really describe it, but she knew something was wrong."
Peko spent more than three hours with Angela, trying to diagnose her symptoms. Performed tests did not reveal anything concerning at the time.
Angela returned to the hospital on March 9.
"This time she appeared a lot sicker, and she has abnormal vital signs, in particular her blood pressure is low," Peko told the jury.
Peko ran advanced tests on Angela, but those tests would not have detected cyanide, arsenic, or tetrahydrozoline, she testified. If Peko had known Angela was exposed to such chemicals, she said that would have changed her treatment plan.
Another witness, Dr. Arthur Levene, ran tests that did not show a heart problem. He remembered Angela as very pleasant during their interactions, saying, "She wanted to get better to get home to her six kids."
A nurse, Danielle Andrews, who worked with Angela, said they ran through standard questions asked in every screening.
Angela told Andrews she felt safe at home and was not considering hurting herself or anyone else. Angela also said she did not have thoughts of suicide, according to Andrews.
Witness testimony will resume at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
