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2.55
Heat Index-
Impact LevelLow
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Scope LevelLocal
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Last Update2025-08-01
Key Impacts
Positive Impacts (2)
Event Overview
A case involving the poisoning of a spouse highlights challenges in proving premeditated murder within intimate relationships, emphasizing forensic evidence and judicial scrutiny in criminal trials.
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Colorado Dentist James Craig Sentenced to Life in Prison for Poisoning Wife Angela Craig
James Craig, a dentist from Aurora, Colorado, was found guilty of first-degree murder and five other charges for fatally poisoning his wife, Angela Craig, in 2023. The verdict was delivered by a jury in Arapahoe County on Wednesday. Judge Shay Whitaker sentenced Craig to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors presented evidence that James Craig purchased arsenic and over-the-counter eye drops and secretly administered these substances to Angela Craig by mixing them into her protein shakes. While she was hospitalized, he gave her a fatal dose of cyanide. Angela Craig, a 43-year-old mother of six, was hospitalized three times over a 10-day period. On March 15, 2023, she was admitted to the hospital for the last time, placed on a ventilator, subsequently declared medically brain dead, and taken off life support.
James Craig was also convicted of solicitation to commit tampering with evidence, solicitation to commit perjury, and solicitation to commit murder. Online searches conducted by Craig at his dental practice in the weeks before Angela's death included queries such as: "Is there such thing as an undetectable poison?" and "How long does it take to die from arsenic poisoning?"
During sentencing, Judge Whitaker stated, "The evidence, the crime, the verdict and the sentence all speak for themselves. Dr. Craig unleashed a path of destruction as wide as a tornado and just as devastating—damage to his children, damage to Angela's family, damage to his own family."