ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — The wife of former Aurora dentist James Craig, who is on trial for her alleged murder in 2023, had nearly twice the lethal limit of cyanide in her system at the time of her death, according to a toxicology expert who testified in court Monday.
Several medical personnel took the witness stand on the fifth day of the trial and explained to the jury how they treated Angela Craig — who was allegedly poisoned and killed by her husband, former Aurora dentist James Craig, in 2023 — and their confusion about her rapid decline after he was allegedly left alone in her hospital room with her.
Another expert witness in forensic toxicology testified that a dose of cyanide must have been administered while Angela Craig was hospitalized on March 15, based off of test results from blood samples.
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 suffered through several bouts of sickness before her passing, and doctors struggled to determine why she was ill.
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.
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
Denver7 reporter Colette Bordelon is in court Monday and we are summarizing the fifth day of the trial in this story.
Friend of Angela Craig: Couple described a night when James Craig allegedly drugged Angela Craig in 2019
The prosecution began on Monday with its 24th witness, Nicole Harmon, to start the fifth day of the trial on Monday morning.
Prosecutor Ryan Brackley asked her how she knew Angela Craig, and she tearfully said they had met in the fall of 2000. In 2004, they lived a few doors down from each other in Kansas City. They had kids that were about the same age and raised them while their husbands were in dental school. She was also friendly with James Craig, she said.
"We had been best friends then, and then we moved to Colorado and stayed best friends for a long time, since then," Harmon said.
As their kids got older, the dynamics changed a bit and they didn't see each other as much, Harmon testified. She explained that they confided in each other, but not the "extremely private" parts of their lives. She said Angela Craig was not a risk-taker and would not describe her as "manipulative."
Harmon said she knew that the Craigs went to marriage counseling and that they were likely having issues, but she noted that no marriage is perfect, "so it was what it was." She added that for Angela Craig, "her kids were her life."
"For the most part of her life, she devoted all of her time to raising them and to being home with them, so in my opinion she was giving all of her time and her energy to their well-being," Harmon told the court.
She described the morning of March 9, 2023, when Angela Craig texted her and asked her to come to her house and test her blood sugar. Harmon explained that her daughter is a type 1 diabetic, so she had the necessary items to perform the test. Angela Craig did not explain why she needed the test, Harmon said, and Harmon did not know about the health issues Angela Craig had been dealing with between March 6 and 9 due to James Craig's alleged poisoning of her smoothies.
When Harmon got to the Craigs' house, she found Angela Craig on the couch with her kids watching cartoons and said she did not look well. Her friend described how she had not slept well, and had been on a bike ride and came home feeling sick, so she went to an urgent care. She was concerned she was having "a diabetic episode of some sort," Harmon said. Angela Craig had talked with her siblings about diabetes to see if her symptoms aligned.
Harmon told the court that she noted a protein shake next to her couch, which Angela Craig said her husband made for her. Harmon suggested she also eat some crackers to help increase her blood sugar.
Harmon testified that she left to take her daughter to school and when she returned to the Craig household with soup around 11:30 a.m., she realized Angela Craig had gone to the hospital.
That day, Harmon texted with James Craig starting around the time she realized her friend was in the hospital. The texts were shown in court, with Harmon writing "Wow, what the heck, you got any ideas what might be going on?" to James Craig, and him replying, "It's the 'Rona."
The following day — March 10, 2023 — James Craig wrote a text to Harmon to say his wife did not have diabetes and that he had no idea what was ailing Angela Craig.
Harmon said she texted her friend while she was hospitalized, and Angela Craig also did not know what was wrong.
Prosecutor Brackley then asked Harmon to bring the court back to 2019, to a specific instance when the Craigs visited the Harmons' household. During that visit, James Craig said "he had been dealing with sexual addiction," Harmon testified.
"He told us he had been dealing with sexual addiction for a long time, and that it had gotten to a point where he was going to, or had, thought about killing himself... He used the term sexual addiction, there was no specification," Harmon testified. "And so, he told us that one night, he was planning to inject himself with something to kill himself and he had drugged Angie to make sure that she didn't wake up and stop him."
Harmon said she didn't remember how she reacted upon learning this, but recalled that Angela Craig said she was going to stay in the marriage and help her husband work through it with group counseling and therapy.
Harmon noted that only James Craig spoke about the alleged drugging incident — and that Angela Craig did not say anything about whether or not she was drugged.
After this conversation in 2019, Harmon said Angela Craig seemed to want space from Harmon and so they talked less and "it just became different." She tried texting Angela Craig saying that she wished she knew so she could have helped. Harmon testified that Angela Craig felt as though her friend was not there for her during such hard times.
During the cross-examination, which was led by defense attorney Lisa Moses, Harmon said her husband and James Craig knew each other since they were teenagers and then both went on to dental school. She added that she spent time with the Redfearns as well. Michelle Redfearn testified on July 16 and her husband Ryan Redfearn, who was business partners with James Craig, testified the following day.
They were all close in dental school and shared the same faith, Harmon said.
When the Harmon family moved to Colorado, her husband ended up working for James Craig, she said.
Defense attorney Moses asked about that evening when the Craigs visited the Harmons in 2019, and Harmon's texts to Angela Craig afterward.
"You texted her, 'I'm sorry, I wish you told me,'" Moses asked and Harmon said yes.
"Angela responded and she was mad?" Moses asked and Harmon again responded yes, confirming that her friend responded angrily.
Harmon said she knew her friend was angry with what was happening in her marriage and was taking out her frustration on Harmon, which Harmon said she was OK with. But their relationship was limited after 2019.
In a redirect examination, Harmon told the court that Angela Craig was protecting her husband, and she understood why.
"I don't think you can tell you best friend that your husband is cheating on you and that not change everything," Harmon said on the stand. "Because your best friend is going to look at your husband as the biggest scumbag."
Despite having a limited relationship after 2019, when Angela Craig called Harmon on March 9, 2023, she went right over to the Craig house.
Nurse says Angela Craig was "so sick" that she did not treat another patient for the rest of the day
Prosecutor Osama Magrebi then called up the 25th witness, Kristin Aubuchon, who has been a nurse for 23 years. She treated Angela Craig when she was "very critically ill," Aubuchon said, and this included taking various blood samples.
Aubuchon said on March 15, 2023 — the last time Angela Craig was admitted into a hospital and the day she "crashed" — she only treated Angela Craig from the moment she stepped into her room. She treated other patients before Angela Craig came into the hospital, but not afterwards.
The defense did not have any questions for her and so she was excused.
Pulmonology specialist recalls Angela Craig's rapid and confusing decline in hospital
The following witness to take the stand was Dr. Peter Sottile, who specializes in pulmonology — the study of lungs — and critical care. He was qualified as an expert witness in hospital medicine and pulmonology.
Sottile said he remembers taking care of Angela Craig on March 15, 2023, and that she was incredibly sick. He recalled that her exam "seemed pretty normal" with normal lab results and was considered for discharge from the hospital when she "suddenly became drastically ill" with low blood pressure and low oxygen. She was intubated and somewhat stabilized, and that was when Sottile was called in to help. Just before that, James Craig had been in the room with his wife and then reported that she had arm pain, and when medical personnel came into the room, they found Angela Craig unresponsive.
Sottile said at that point, they had no explanation why their care was not helping Angela Craig. Another analysis at that time was "vastly abnormal," with high levels of acid in her blood. Lactic acid can build up — which is normal during exercise — and the body can become too acidic, the doctor said.
He explained that at that point, Angela Craig was essentially comatose. It was unusual for a woman of her age with vague complaints to suddenly "essentially die in front of you," he said.
His first goal was to try to stabilize her, which was a challenge because he was worried about even transporting her to a CT scanner. There, he saw severe swelling of the brain, but the rest of the scan was considered relatively "unremarkable." He found this odd since he was told that James Craig said to staff members that Angela Craig was complaining about arm pain — and he would be surprised if someone with that level of swelling in the brain could speak to relay such a message.
After the scan, Angela Craig was brought up to the ICU for several procedures. After a discussion with neurosurgeons, Sottile said they decided to drill a hole in her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain. The doctors put in an intracranial pressure monitor, and after doing so, he realized that blood was not going to the brain, but he was still left questioning why the swelling had started in the first place.
The results of an electrocardiogram argued against Angela Craig having experienced a heart attack, Sottile said.
At that point, he thought it was necessary to tell James Craig about his wife's outlook. He found the husband with a handful of family and friends in a conference room. James Craig asked everybody to leave and then Sottile told him that Angela Craig was likely brain-dead, but he could not formally declare her as such since she was too unstable. Still, the doctor had reached a point where he was worried that medical intervention would not make a difference.
Sottile testified that James Craig's reaction was "somewhat unusual." He called it a "very lackluster response, for lack of a better description, to hearing that your wife, who had been healthy, was now likely dead."
James Craig said his wife would want the medical teams to stop fighting to save her life, which left a lot of questions in Sottile's mind, since Angela Craig was only in her 40s. He said a decision like that typically comes after a few days, after a grieving process.
Normally, Sottile testified he sees denial and anger from individuals during a conversation like the one he had with James Craig. That was not the case in this instance, according to Sottile.
Sometime after this, a nurse came into the room and told Sottile privately that he had just had an unusual conversation with James Craig's business partner — Ryan Redfearn — about cyanide being delivered to the dental office. Once there was even the question of cyanide toxicity, Sottile brought in specialty doctors to investigate.
Those doctors gave Angela Craig an antidote, but Sottile explained that it's most effective if given as soon as possible and it had been a few hours since her cardiovascular collapse.
In a cross-examination, led by defense attorney Ashley Witham, Sottile told her he has seen a range of people who have accidentally or intentionally ingested something. He added that doctors often have a clue of what happened, whether that be empty pill bottles, a note, or indications from first responders.
Sottile said this was his first time taking care of somebody with severe cyanide exposure. He admitted he did not treat Angela Craig before James Craig allegedly told nurses she was experiencing arm pain, and Sottile said he cannot say how fast the swelling in the brain occurred.
Circling back to James Craig's reaction when he learned of his wife's status, Sottile confirmed through Witham that people can be angry or hysterical in similar circumstances, but it's less common to see a loved one in shock and trying to process information after hearing such devastating news. When Witham said grief and accepting information can look different for everyone, Sottile agreed. Answering more questions from Witham, Sottile acknowledged he does not know what James Craig's typical reaction to negative information or grief would be.
Nurse testifies that James Craig took pictures of wife undergoing emergency treatment
Rose Spychala was the next witness and treated Angela Craig as a nurse while she was working in the emergency department at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in 2023. She was there when Angela Craig first came into the hospital and remembered her saying she was dizzy, but could speak.
Spychala told the court she recalled Angela Craig starting to look better and her demeanor appeared to improve on March 15, 2023. At some point, Spychala left the room and James Craig went inside, she testified.
As described in previous testimony, Spychala said James Craig came out of his wife's room to say that her arm was hurting in a "very panicked way." Spychala recalled everybody rushing into the room because of how "flustered" James Craig appeared. Spychala said it looked as though Angela Craig was having a seizure.
Spychala pulled an emergency alarm and did a blood draw on Angela Craig at 11:50 a.m.
Spychala demonstrated what the IV bag and tubes looked like in Angela Craig's case. Typically, she explained that medications can be screwed into ports along the tubing.
Prosecutors specifically asked Spychala if she had ever put a syringe into the tube using a needle. She said she has never attempted that, and has always screwed it on.
During the cross-examination, Spychala said that Angela Craig had come to the hospital that day with two people, neither of whom were James Craig. He came later on in the day.
She said James Craig never intervened in her care of his wife and did not try to stop anybody from entering the room to help her. He seemed very emotional as medical personnel worked around Angela Craig, Spychala said. He was also taking pictures from the hallway.
Spychala said, to answer a jury member's question, that she has not seen family members take photos of their loved one receiving emergency medical care.
The court then broke for lunch.
Angela Craig had nearly twice the lethal amount of cyanide in her system
Following the lunch break, the court then called Dr. Karla Walker to the witness stand. Walker is the laboratory director for MedTox Laboratories, and has been for about 10 years. She has testified in court dozens of times and was qualified as an expert witness in toxicology — the study of how natural or man-made poisons cause harmful effects in living organisms, including humans.
Dr. Walker testified that MedTox was requested to test two different blood samples from Angela Craig, taken on March 15, 2023. The samples were tested for cyanide.
Defense attorney Witham then questioned Walker about those blood samples. The doctor said she received those from another lab, not directly from a nurse, and that other analysts — not herself — performed the analysis of those samples.
"And you never performed a confirmation test?" Witham asked. "I did not personally perform any testing," Dr. Walker testified.
Walker testified that the analysis "was done multiple times and all indicate the same finding."
Prosecutors then presented an exhibit detailing the results of the blood tests, which was admitted as evidence before the judge.
Walker explained the results to the court, which showed that Angela Craig had 5.865 milligrams of cyanide per liter of blood (mg/L). To put those numbers into context, Walker said she'd expect to see cyanide levels within the 0.025 mg/L in a non-smoker, and about 0.2 mg/L in someone who was exposed to the toxin due to the nature of their job.
Those levels, she said, are considered non-toxic.
Toxic levels of cyanide are reached once that range goes into the 1.0 - 2.5 mg/L, Walker said. Having that much cyanide in your blood can lead to coma and respiratory depression, she said. Death generally occurs when those levels reach 3 mg/L or greater.
Walker told the court Monday that one of the two blood samples from Angela showed she had 5.865 mg/L of cyanide in her blood — nearly twice the amount needed to kill her. The second sample showed Angel had 4.770 mg/L of cyanide in her system — still well above the lethal threshold.
In cross-examination, Witham argued the toxicology reports "cannot say how cyanide ended up in someone's system," and added that since Walker didn't witness the analyst taking the sample and doing the test, "you're just hoping they're following protocol?"
Walker said it's "beyond hoping" that analysts follow protocol, as they're required to follow standardized operating procedures, do regular competency assessments, and are generating electronic raw data that would be difficult to manipulate. She added there are supervisors who are watching the analysts do the testing, but there isn't someone independently watching every analyst working at at the lab, as that is not standard practice.
Prosecutors declined a redirect and Walker was excused from the stand.
Forensic toxicologist believes Angela was exposed to cyanide during hospital stay
The prosecution then called Dr. Justin Brower, a forensic toxicologist with NMS Labs who has done "probably every type of toxicology testing that's available." His specialty in toxicology — the forensic aspect — studies how toxins can be used for lethal purposes.
Brower typically reviews post-mortem cases to help medical examiners and forensic pathologists determine cause of death. In his role, Brower said coroners can consult with him regarding questions about the findings. He has testified as an expert witness roughly three dozen times, and was qualified as such in this trial.
In his testimony, Brower said there's two aspects to forensic toxicology: A screening aspect and a confirmation aspect.
He said his lab received a package of samples from the Arapahoe County Coroner related to Angela Craig on March 29, 2023. In all, 67 specimens were received from the coroner, with the majority being ante-mortem, meaning they were taken while Angela was alive and hospitalized; but he also said his lab received post-mortem specimens from the autopsy (such as blood samples, tissue from the liver, hair samples, and fingernail samples).
He told prosecutor Ryan Brackley his lab was involved with the coroner before he tested the samples as there was some concern about the nature of the case and what specimens would need to be tested. He added it's unusual to get 67 samples, and said he believes this is the most his lab has ever received.
Brower said in this particular case, he wasn't the analyst who performed the tests — he reviewed the data to make sure it was recorded correctly and followed the chain of custody before he was satisfied with the process and gave it his signature.
He testified that he talked with the coroner to determine what tests to assign, but did not test all 67 samples as the coroner is the one who decides which samples make the most sense to test.
Despite not testing all 67 samples, he said his lab has "a lot of checks and balances to make sure that what we're doing is correct and accurate."
In his testimony, Brower detailed three blood samples:
- The first sample was from March 9, 2023 at 11:24 a.m., in which there was no detectable cyanide but there was 330 micrograms per liter of blood (µg/L) of arsenic.
- The second sample was from March 15, 2023, at 11:50 a.m. In this one, 68 µg/L of arsenic were detected, a "very significant" amount. The second sample also showed 1.7 µg/L of cyanide and 95 nanograms per milliliter of blood (ng/mL) of tetrahydrozoline, a drug which is found in over-the-counter eye drops and nasal sprays and is meant to be used as a decongestant.
- The third sample, taken on March 15, 2023 at 8:21 p.m., showed 3.7 µg/L of cyanide. It was not tested for arsenic of tetrahydrozoline.
The two blood draws from March 15 were taken around 8 hours apart, and show the cyanide levels in Angela Craig had more than doubled while she was hospitalized.
"To me, it looks like there has to be a second administration of cyanide while Angela Craig was in the hospital," Brower testified.
Brower also explained that tetrahydrozoline constricts blood vessels, and if consumed, can mimic an opioid overdose. When arsenic concentration is high within a human, symptoms can include abdominal pain, feeling dizzy, and a lack of coordination. Cyanide inhibits the manufacturing of adenosine triphosphate within the mitochondria of cells, which is how the body operates. Cyanide was also used in gas chambers and concentration camps during World War II.
Referring to the effects of the amount of cyanide found in Angela's blood, Brower said its effects are very quick on the body and people can die within seconds depending on how much cyanide someone has on their blood.
"If you ingest cyanide, it can work within minutes — the cyanide can react in the stomach, producing cyanide gas, which can flow through gut membrane to enter the blood very, very fast," Brower said.
In cross-examination, defense attorney Lisa Moses pointed out that of the 67 samples Brower's lab received, his lab only tested 5.
During the cross-examination, Brower was asked about ignoring media coverage of the Craig case. "My role here is as Switzerland," he said about his testimony, after explaining that he actively tried to avoid consuming any reporting on the allegations.
In the redirect examination, prosecutors asked Brower about how much consumption of benzodiazepines — a class of drugs primarily used to treat anxiety disorders — would be enough to detect an overdose by testing hair. He said they would be able to possibly detect that if the person taking them was a chronic user.
The jury then submitted questions for the witness which were then asked of Brower, including whether concentrations of toxins would change in a blood sample given time. He said for the drugs they were discussing in court, the answer would be "no."
The jury also asked if there are any drug interactions between cyanide, arsenic, and tetrahydrozoline. He responded by saying that "generally, all of them could be lethal on their own."
He was then excused from the stand.
Arapahoe County Coroner says Angela's death was a homicide, not suicide
The last witness of the day was Dr. Kelly Lear, who is the elected coroner and forensic pathologist for the Arapahoe County Coroner's Office. In her job, she evaluates deceased people to determine why that person has died.
She told the court she has been with the office since 2004, and became the elected coroner in 2014. She has performed more than 6,000 autopsies in her career. She has also testified in court around 177 times, and has worked in Colorado for more than two decades. She was qualified as an expert witness in forensic pathology.
Prosecutor Ryan Brackley questioned Lear as to the information she had available to her prior to the autopsy. Lear responded she had "a fair number" of medical records including from Angela's terminal hospital stay, hospital visits before her death, hospital records dating back to 2014 and information from law enforcement regarding their investigation at the time. She added that she knew about the allegations that Angela had been poisoned with cyanide.
In her testimony, Lear said Angela's organs showed a lack of oxygen, which were the result of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline toxicity — the overdose of those two drugs caused a lack of oxygen to all of the organs in her body, she said.
She testified that she believed Angela Craig may have been re-exposed to cyanide during her hospital stay due to her "abrupt change in her clinical status in that time frame."
Ultimately, she said, Angela's cause of death was acute cyanide and tetrahydrozoline toxicity, or poisoning. She ruled Angela's manner of death as a homicide.
When questioned as to why she did not rule her death a suicide, she said her death could not have been a suicide after looking at her past medical history and hospital visits, and from looking at the evidence from text messages as well as her actions prior to her death (i.e. going to the hospital to find out what was wrong with her).
"My job as the forensic pathologist is to speak for the decedent," Lear told the jury. "I have to look at her actions and her records and her words, where I can find them, to make a determination as to manner [of death].”
Testimony is expected to resume on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.
