James Craig, dentist on trial for wife's poison murder, claims victim was emotionally manipulative, unstable
Dr. James Toliver Craig, 47, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 2023 death of his wife, Angela Craig, a 43-year-old mother of six. Her cause of death was determined to be lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline.
In opening statements Tuesday in Colorado, defense attorney Ashley Whitham acknowledged the couple's rocky 23-year marriage but described Angela not as a victim of betrayal, but as someone who was emotionally broken, deeply private and at times manipulative.
'You're going to hear her own daughter describe her that she was also manipulating words,' Whitham revealed to jurors Tuesday. 'Again, that if she wanted to try to get something, she would be manipulative.'
The Colorado couple's marital strife was laid bare in Tuesday's opening remarks. Prosecutors pointed to his relationship with a Texas orthodontist, Dr. Karin Cain, as the motivation for the murder. Cain has not returned Fox News Digital's requests for comment. The defense said the 47-year-old husband had extramarital affairs throughout the couple's marriage.
'Karin Cain was just like the others. This wasn't some new obsession,' Whitham said.
4 Dr. James Toliver Craig is charged with first-degree murder in the March 2023 death of his wife.
AP
4 Defense portrayed his wife of 23 years as emotionally manipulative during the trial.
AP
Along with a series of affairs, Craig also allegedly used the website Seeking.com, advertising himself as 'Jim and Waffles' and claiming a net worth of $10 million in search of 'sugar babies.'
Whitham described Angela as an 'extremely private' stay-at-home mom of six who, due to her deeply held Mormon faith, was reluctant to share the couple's marital issues. She claimed Angela was isolated and someone who was 'not about to tell people about her marital struggles' and who was 'broken.'
Defense attorney Kelly Hyman delved into the dueling strategies as the high-stakes murder trial kicks off. She noted that the defense's strategy to cast Angela as manipulative and unstable plays into their aims to create reasonable doubt and reframe the context.
'By doing so, the defendant implies that [he] wasn't responsible,' she explained to Fox News Digital. 'That could go to the heaty of the defense that Angela killed herself and that it was suicide.'
4 Angela Craig, a mother of six, was poisoned with lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline.
Summerbrook Dental Group/Facebook
While prosecutors argued Tuesday that Craig's alleged Google searches, chemical orders and romantic messages to his alleged mistress amount to premeditation, Hyman warned that speculative interpretation of digital evidence isn't always a slam dunk.
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'A way to do this is to challenge admissibility and the reliability of the digital evidence. This can be done on cross-examination or through a defense witness to counter the digital forensic and timeline reconstruction,' she said.
The defense argued Tuesday that investigators operated with 'tunnel vision' and failed to investigate other leads. The defense said Angela's personal laptop was never seized or searched despite prosecutors showing images of her using it from her hospital bed to research symptoms.
'The defense could argue that the unexamined laptop may contain information supporting an alternative theory of events or potentially pointing to another person and/or a different timeline,' Hyman said. 'This omission may suggest an incomplete and/or biased investigation.'
Hyman also noted that the absence of direct physical evidence, such as cyanide residue on containers or packaging, could work to the defense's advantage.
4 Craig also allegedly used the website Seeking.com, advertising himself as 'Jim and Waffles' and in search of 'sugar babies.'
Summerbrook Dental Group/Facebook
'The absence of direct physical evidence like poison residue on the protein shake containers or the victim's body presents a key argument for the defense to use,' she said.
Investigators alleged in court documents obtained by Fox News Digital that, in the weeks before his wife's hospitalization and death, Craig used a dental office computer to search for 'undetectable poisons' and how to obtain them, later purchasing arsenic and cyanide by mail, 'how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human' and 'is arsenic detectable in an autopsy?'
Alongside these online searches, investigators alleged Craig made YouTube queries such as 'how to make poison' and 'Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play.'
Fox News Digital has reached out to James Craig's lead attorney, Lisa Fine Moses, for comment.
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