Published at 7:42 PM, February 14, 2025
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo.– A judge has actually figured out there’s adequate proof to prosecute a previous Aurora dental practitioner implicated of poisoning his better half in 2023 and supposedly attempting to get a fellow prisoner to eliminate an investigator examining him.
SUBMIT– James Craig, implicated in his spouse’s death, appears in court.(Scripps News Denver )
James Craig remained in court Friday for an initial hearing in connection with the murder-for-hire charges he now deals with after district attorneys exposed previously this year that he presumably attempted to encourage an Arapahoe County Jail prisoner to eliminate an Aurora authorities investigator dealing with a case including the murder of his spouse Angela.
The judge commanding the case concurred with district attorneys that the material of letters that James supposedly attempted to pass off as coming from his other half was “quite a sign” that Craig composed them.
In a judgment on Friday, the judge stated details, information, background details, background history, and the truth that the prisoner and Craig remained in a cell together– all weighed together in her choice to prosecute the suspect.
A pre-trial hearing is set for June 27 at 8:30 a.m., with jury choice starting July 10 and 11.
The trial is anticipated to begin July 14 and go till Aug. 1.
Arrest affidavit information other half’s illness, toxin ideas
James Craig, who practiced dentistry at Summerbrook Dental Group, was jailed after his other half, Angela Craig, 43, passed away on March 18, 2023, from deadly dosages of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a decongestant discovered in non-prescription eyedrops. She suffered through numerous bouts of illness where physicians might not identify the cause.
A 52-page arrest affidavit for James in-depth how Angela Craig ended up being ill several times in early and mid-March 2023 and was hospitalized, however medical professionals might not identify what was triggering her signs. Throughout among the gos to, an individual informed a nurse that he thought she had actually been poisoned, potentially by James, according to the affidavit. Around 12:30 a.m. on March 16, 2023, an investigator found out about the decrease of Angela’s health. Since that time, she was still on life assistance without any brain activity.
She was noticable brain dead on March 18 at 4:29 p.m., according to the affidavit.
Throughout a search warrant at the dental expert’s workplace, cops took computer systems, and they discovered from a single gadget that a user had browsed numerous poison-related questions, consisting of, “How lots of grams of pure arsenic will eliminate a human?” and “Is arsenic noticeable in autopsy?” The user had actually likewise looked for chemical providers in Aurora along with YouTube videos about making toxin, consisting of one entitled “Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Sign of Foul Play.”
LEARNT MORE|DA: Accused killer asked prisoner to plant proof for oral work
Investigators likewise discovered messages, consisting of itinerary, with a female that were “intimate in nature and consisted of raunchy discussions,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit likewise mentions that James made several orders for arsenic and cyanide.
Through the examination, cops observed numerous resemblances in between Angela’s signs and the impacts of consuming cyanide and arsenic, as described by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
An individual informed authorities they understood James made protein shakes for his other half when they worked out which she had actually felt faint and woozy after consuming them. The protein powder and shakers were taken in a search warrant. Authorities stated in the affidavit that they think the toxin remained in those shakes.
A supposed plot from prison to eliminate an investigator examining the case
James was jailed early the following day on a charge of first-degree murder after consideration, however brand-new charges have actually been included considering that: Two counts of solicitation to devote damaging physical proof, 2 counts of first-degree solicitation to dedicate perjury, and one count of first-degree solicitation to dedicate murder. Those last 2 were submitted on Nov. 22 of in 2015.
In court files gotten by Denver7 soon after those newest charges were included, district attorneys declared James dedicated the criminal activity in between Oct. 19 and Nov. 15 of 2023. They likewise declare thatJames attemptedto encourage an Arapahoe County Jail prisoner to eliminate an Aurora cops investigator dealing with the case.
Affirming in court in May of this year, Aurora Police Detective Bobbi Olson, the lead investigator on the case, stated James had actually asked the prisoner, who was going to bond out, to position letters in his garage and truck at his home to make it look like if Angela had actually composed them. Olson stated the letters were expected to communicate that Angela was not delighted with life, was self-destructive and had actually discovered her hubby was having an affair. The intent was for police or defense lawyer to discover the letters, according to Olson.
In exchange for putting the letters, James used the prisoner totally free oral work or cash for their bond, however the prisoner did not take James up on the deal and rather gotten in touch with police, Olson stated.
The AP would go on to report in November of in 2015 that district attorneys likewise declared James “asked another previous fellow prisoner to discover appealing females who would consent to affirm at his trial that they had affairs with him and, after Angela Craig learnt, they had actually declined to assist her frame him.”
James pleaded innocent to the murder charge in October 2023 however has actually not yet gone into a plea for the brand-new charges.
A day before the more current charges were submitted, a judge enabled his most current attorney, Harvey Steinberg, to withdraw from the case after he pointed out an expert dispute, according to the Associated Press. Our partners at The Denver Post reported that Steinberg stated James was continuing a strategy that he “fairly thinks is criminal or deceptive,” which James was demanding action he “thinks about repugnant or … has an essential argument (with).”
This story was initially composed by Veronica Acosta and Óscar Contreras for Scripps News Denver, an E.W. Scripps Company.
