James Craig Convicted for Poisoning and Murdering Wife

DENVER (KDVR) James Craig, a former Aurora dentist, was found guilty of murder Wednesday in the poisoning death of his wife. Prosecutors say Angela Craig died after being repeatedly poisoned, including in her protein shakes.

Craig was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charge, the mandatory sentence in Colorado. He was given an additional 33 years for convictions on other charges.

⬇️ Jump to: Updates from court on Wednesday

Prosecutors said the investigation revealed a calculated and deliberate plan to end the life of Angela, his wife and the mother of six children, using a lethal cocktail of arsenic, cyanide and tetrahyrdolozine, an ingredient found in over-the-counter eye drops.

Angela died in March of 2023 after several trips to the hospital. Toxicology tests later determined she died of poisoning.

Family members of both James and Angela Craig were seen wiping away tears during the reading of the verdict, victim impact statements and sentencing.

Before the sentence was handed down Wednesday afternoon, Angela Craig’s relatives shared statements on the loss of their family member, as James Craig sat nearby.

Angela Craig’s older sister, Toni Kofoed, lamented the loss of phone calls, texts and trips with her sister where they could laugh and talk throughout the night.

“Her life was not yours to take,″ Kofoed said in turning to the defendant. “Angela had a love and a passion for life. She loved her children and, unfortunately, she loved you.”

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.

“I was supposed to be able to trust my dad; he was supposed to be my hero, and instead he’ll forever be the villain in my book,” she said.

At least eight of the jury members returned to the courtroom to listen to the victim impact statements.  Several of them were seen wiping tears from their eyes as Angela Craig’s children spoke of their heartache.

In addition to murder, James Craig was also 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 his daughter to make a fake video of her mother asking to be poisoned and of trying to get one inmate to kill the lead detective investigating his wife’s death, among other things.

The jury handed down the following verdicts:

• Count 1: Murder in the first degree Guilty
• Count 2: Solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence Guilty
• Count 3: Solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence Guilty
• Count 4: Solicitation to commit perjury in the first degree Guilty
• Count 5: Solicitation to commit murder in the first degree Guilty
• Count 6: Solicitation to commit perjury in the first degree Guilty
• Count 7: Solicitation to commit manslaughter, cause or aid suicide Not guilty

The prosecution said Craig killed Angela because he wanted “out of the marriage,” but didn’t want a divorce because of his image and financial status. Meanwhile, the defense suggested that Angela killed herself after she was heartbroken by her husband’s affairs.

One of Craig’s attorneys, Lisa Fine Moses, told jurors the couple wasn’t in financial trouble, and that Craig’s cheating had been going on for years and had never been a motivation for murder.

FOX31’s Vicente Arenas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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