A 47-year-old Colorado dentist, James Craig, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of murdering his wife, Angela Craig, by poisoning her protein shakes in a premeditated act of murder, BBC reported.
Reason Behind the US Dentist Kills Wife
A jury found Craig guilty of first-degree murder and multiple other charges, including solicitation to commit murder, after it was revealed he fatally poisoned his 43-year-old wife in March 2023 while carrying on an extramarital affair.
Prosecutors argued that Craig, burdened by financial troubles and seeking an escape from his marriage, first laced his wife’s shakes with arsenic and later administered a lethal dose of cyanide while she was hospitalised.
During the two-week trial, the prosecution presented evidence, including internet searches made by Craig, such as “how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human” and “is arsenic detectable in an autopsy?”. A shipment of potassium cyanide was also delivered to his dental office days before Angela fell ill.
Angela was hospitalised after complaining of dizziness and weakness following one of the tainted shakes. Her condition worsened rapidly, and security footage showed Craig entering her hospital room with a syringe. She was declared brain-dead shortly thereafter.
The Arapahoe County coroner ruled her death was caused by cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a substance found in eye drops. Despite defence claims that Angela may have died by suicide due to emotional distress caused by her husband’s repeated affairs, the jury rejected that narrative.
Craig was also found guilty of solicitation to commit murder after attempting to hire a fellow inmate to kill a detective investigating the case. He was acquitted of manslaughter but received an additional 33-year sentence alongside his life term.
During a press conference, Arapahoe County District Attorney Amy Padden stated, “This was deliberate. This is Angela’s husband [poisoning] her, causing her to die a slow death.”
One of the couple’s six children, Miriam Meservy, gave a heart-wrenching victim impact statement in court, saying, “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.” Craig’s sentencing was handed down by Arapahoe County District Judge Shay Whitaker. (BBC Inputs)
