By Gen Just Law, July 16 2025
A devout Mormon family. A fractured marriage hidden behind closed doors. A husband cheating, struggling financially, yet publicly respected as a local dentist. A wife, private, isolated, and suddenly dead from cyanide poisoning.
In the James Craig trial, jurors hear words like arsenic, burner laptops, and fake suicide scripts. Behind it all is a chilling question: was this a man overwhelmed by chaos, or a calculated killer in a lab coat? Here’s everything you need to know.
Dr. James Craig is stranding trial for the alleged poisoning of his wife, Angela Craig, with cyanide, as opening statements unfolded in a Colorado courtroom. The prosecution told jurors this was not a case of sudden malice but of calculated murder.
“Angela Craig was in the dark,” prosecutors said. “She didn’t know he was in love with someone else, that he was drowning in debt, or that he’d ordered cyanide online.”
Prosecutors previewed digital purchases, secret email accounts, and testimony from the woman Craig was allegedly having an affair with Karin Cain.
Prosecutors allege that Craig used tetrahydrozoline in earlier poisoning attempts before moving to potassium cyanide and arsenic. Tetrahydrozoline can cause severe symptoms when ingested, including dangerously low blood pressure, slowed breathing, and even coma.
Jurors heard that in the days leading up to Angela’s collapse, Craig conducted multiple searches on poisons, ordered arsenic and cyanide, and tracked the delivery from his dental office. When Angela became severely ill, he allegedly maintained the appearance of concern, even requesting psychological evaluations for her. Prosecutors claimed this was cover. They accused Craig of manipulating not just Angela but his children, his colleagues, and, eventually, inmates he met after his arrest.
“They’ll tell you he tried to fake a suicide story,”
the prosecutor said, referencing how Craig allegedly asked his daughter to create false browser history on a burner laptop. The jury also heard allegations that Craig solicited an inmate to plant fake evidence and even explored hiring someone to kill a detective. These attempts, prosecutors said, showed consciousness of guilt.
“At every turn, when manipulation failed, he escalated. And finally, he turned to murder.”
The defense opened with a starkly different narrative. “This case is not what it seems,” they told the jury. “There is another explanation.”
While acknowledging Angela was poisoned, they argued that law enforcement zeroed in on Craig too quickly and ignored key evidence. The defense said Angela was deeply private, a stay-at-home mother struggling with isolation, marital strain, and mental health challenges, none of which were explored by investigators. “Angela didn’t share her pain,” the defense said. “She was a devout Mormon trying to save face.”
They accused police of tunnel vision, pointing out that Angela’s journal was not found during initial searches but later turned over by family with only selected pages submitted to law enforcement. The defense also claimed investigators never examined Angela’s laptop, failed to interview their church bishop, and skipped over potential alternative explanations.
“They didn’t find cyanide or arsenic in the home,” they said. “They didn’t get full surveillance from the dental office. They limited their own investigation.”
Both sides leaned on surveillance video, expert forensic evidence, and what prosecutors described as “Craig’s own words”emails, texts, and statements recorded during hospital visits. The first witness to take the stand following opening statements was a family friend, whose testimony further painted the picture of Angela’s final days. As proceedings paused for recess, the courtroom had already heard allegations of manipulation, concealment, and psychological unraveling on both sides—setting a complex stage for what promises to be a highly contested trial.
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