Prosecutors on Friday are set to present evidence that a Colorado dentist charged with killing his wife also tried to get a fellow inmate to kill a detective investigating him.
James Craig is accused of poisoning his wife’s protein shakes nearly two years ago, allegedly ordering a rush shipment of potassium cyanide that he said he needed for a patient after police say arsenic failed to kill her.
Late last year, prosecutors filed new charges against him: solicitation to commit murder and solicitation to commit perjury. The charging document did not say who Craig allegedly wanted to have killed but police in Aurora, Colorado, have confirmed the intended target of the alleged murder plot was a detective on the case.
Prosecutors are scheduled to present more details about what they believe happened during a hearing Friday afternoon in order to convince a judge that Craig should also be prosecuted for those charges during his trial.
Craig’s trial has been delayed and no new date has been set yet. A judge allowed Craig’s latest lawyer, Harvey Steinberg, to withdraw from the case Nov. 21, after he cited a professional conflict, just as Craig was about to stand trial.
Craig has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. A telephone message left for Craig’s defense lawyers, Lisa Moses and Robert Werking, was not immediately returned.
Angela Craig, 43, died in March 2023 of poisoning from cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, the latter a substance found in over-the-counter eye drops, according to the coroner. The couple had been married for 23 years and had six children together.
CBS
Prosecutors allege Craig tried an elaborate and convoluted approach to put the blame on his wife. In court documents, they said he asked another former fellow inmate to find attractive women who would agree to testify at his trial that they had affairs with him and, after Angela Craig found out, they had refused to help her frame him.
Police have called James Craig’s alleged plot a “heinous, complex and calculated murder.”
Three of Jim and Angela Craig’s six children are living with James Craig’s brother, “48 Hours” reported earlier this year. The other three are now adults living on their own, including their daughter Mira. On Mother’s Day 2023, Mira wrote this message on social media: “as of tomorrow my mom will be two months gone. I haven’t the words to express the heartache my siblings and I feel every day.”
Mira’s last words in that post: “I love you so much mama” … “we miss you.”