After two weeks of testimony, closing arguments are set to begin Tuesday in the murder trial of James Craig, the Colorado dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife in March 2023.
The prosecution and defense are each set to have 90 minutes for closing arguments, and jury deliberations are expected to begin this afternoon.
Prosecutors called 48 witnesses over the last two weeks as they sought to prove Craig poisoned his wife Angela’s protein shakes, gave her prescription capsules he had emptied and refilled with cyanide, and injected her with a poisonous substance using a syringe.
They further argued Craig tried to hatch a murder-for-hire scheme from behind bars, targeting the murder case’s lead investigator, an unidentified officer, and two inmates housed with him in the detention center’s medical unit.
In opening statements earlier this month, prosecutors alleged Craig fatally poisoned his wife because of his growing financial troubles and his affair with another woman.
The defense did not call any witnesses. In cross-examination of prosecution witnesses, defense attorneys tried to portray Angela Craig as a woman who was battling depression and suicidal ideation, in contrast to the prosecution’s portrayal of her as a woman trying to figure out what was making her ill.
Defense attorney Ashley Whitham said in opening statements that investigators had “tunnel vision” and argued the case against him was based on “speculation and assumptions.”
Craig has pleaded not guilty to charges including first-degree murder, solicitation to commit first-degree murder, solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence, and solicitation to commit perjury.
The trial comes over two years after Angela Craig died on March 18, 2023, following three hospitalizations over 10 days for severe headaches, dizziness, and vomiting, police say. She was 43 years old, and the couple had six children.
An autopsy report shows Angela had “lethal concentrations of cyanide” and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient in eyedrops, in her system when she died. Arsenic poisoning was listed as a “significant condition” related to her death.
What happened in the trial
Investigators say Craig ordered arsenic and potassium cyanide online in addition to making several internet searches, including “how to make poison,” and “Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play,” in the weeks leading up to Angela’s death.
Several witnesses also reported he had made unsubstantiated claims that Angela was suffering suicidal ideations.
Two of Craig’s daughters took the stand for the prosecution during the trial. One testified that he asked her to make it seem like her mother wanted him to order the poisonous ingredients.
Craig gave step-by-step instructions in a letter for how to create a deepfake video of his wife, the daughter testified. Deepfakes are inauthentic images, videos or audio recordings created by artificial intelligence that appear real but have been digitally manipulated, or faked.
Another daughter testified that Craig did not want an autopsy conducted on her mother. She also said that while her mother struggled “like anyone else,” she wouldn’t have taken her own life.
“We were making plans,” the 21-year-old woman said.
Text messages between the couple, included in a probable cause affidavit, show Angela told her husband the only thing she had consumed the morning of her first hospitalization was her protein shake. She denied feeling nauseated when he asked, and texted him, “I feel drugged.”
“Given our history I know that must be triggering,” Craig wrote back. “Just for the record, I didn’t drug you.”
The message was an apparent reference to an incident years prior when Craig allegedly drugged his wife to prevent her from stopping his attempt to commit suicide, one of Angela Craig’s sisters told investigators, according to the probable cause affidavit.
CNN’s Cindy Von Quednow and Melissa Gray contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Comments