James Craig’s now fate rests in the hands of a jury after attorneys for the prosecution and defense made their closing arguments in his murder trial on Tuesday.

Craig, 47, faces six felony counts in connection with the 2023 death of his wife, Angela Craig, including first-degree murder, solicitation to tamper with physical evidence and solicitation to commit perjury. He faces life in prison without parole if convicted of the most serious offense, first-degree murder. 

Prosecutors alleged Craig killed her with fatal doses of poison, including cyanide, arsenic and tetrahydrozoline — the active ingredient in eye drops, such as Visine.

Jurors deliberated for about three-and-a-half hours before 18th Judicial District Judge Shay Whitaker sent them home at 5 p.m. Deliberations will continue on Wednesday morning at an Arapahoe County courtroom.

More than two years after Angela Craig’s death and following two weeks of the trial, James Craig’s defense insisted it remains a mystery as to who, exactly, killed Angela and suggested she might have killed herself through.

“You don’t know who put the tetrahydrozoline in that cup,” Defense Attorney Lisa Moses told the jurors. “They want you to guess. You don’t get to guess. You don’t know if this was voluntary or involuntary ingestion.”

Just as he had in nearly every other day of the trial, Craig saw members of his family and the public filter into the gallery before the proceedings began on Tuesday morning.

Unlike other days, he didn’t smile or wave at any familiar faces in the crowd. He just watched.

Dressed in a light grey suit that matched the color of his hair, Craig kept his emotions largely in check until the end of the prosecution’s argument, when a photo of Angela hugging one of her daughters in her hospital bed was put on the TV screen.

At that moment, the defendant, who had remained stoic throughout the trial, hung his head and began to sob, using a tissue to cover his mouth.

“This is tragic,” Moses said in that moment. “And for the family, this is unbelievably sad.”

Throughout their closing argument, Moses maintained that Craig is innocent, saying that Angela felt broken by her husband’s cheating and alluded she had asked Craig to help her kill herself with those poisons, a request he first pushed back against before reluctantly helping her with.

Moses also said that the investigation into the case was inherently flawed and that it honed in on Craig as a suspect despite a lack of evidence.

“Dr. Craig deserves better, we all deserve better,” Moses said. “You deserve better than lenses, blinders and broken perceptions.”

Michael Mauro, senior chief deputy district attorney with the 18th Judicial District, walked jurors through a timeline of the evidence alleging the contrary.

That evidence included shipments of poisons addressed to Craig and delivered to his residence, as well as his email correspondence with representatives of laboratory products distributors, wherein he urged them to speed up their delivery timelines.

“This is not a reluctant person,” Mauro said. “This is a person who’s relentless, ferocious in pursuit of these poisons.”

Prosecutors also highlighted internet searches Craig made where he inquired about the speed, lethality and traceability of certain toxins in the weeks leading up to Angela’s death. All were made using an exam room computer in Craig’s dental office, rather than a personal device.

“How to make murder look like a heart attack,” was one search conducted on Feb. 28. 

“How long does it take to die from arsenic poisoning,” was another, conducted the next day.

Mauro also noted how, after he was arrested on suspicion of his wife’s murder, Craig told different people various stories about what happened between him and his wife. Those he deceived included women involved in his extramarital affairs, fellow jail inmates and even his own daughter, Annabelle, the prosecutor said. 

“If you close your eyes and pick up an exhibit, there’s a good chance you laid hands on a false statement by James Craig,” Mauro said.

Angela Craig died on March 18, 2023 at Denver’s University Hospital from lethal doses of the toxins noted earlier. In the week leading up to her death, she had visited the hospital multiple times, feeling weak and dizzy.

The opening and closings arguments bookended nearly two full weeks of witness testimony in Craig’s trial. 

All told, prosecutors called 48 witnesses to the stand.

The defense called zero.

Several family members — including two of Craig’s daughters — testified during the trial, recalling his actions during his wife’s final days.

Renee Pray, wife of Angela’s brother Mark, said Craig thought his wife should have been resting at home, instead of in the hospital after she was admitted on March 15, hours before she was declared brain-dead.

On cross examination, the defense questioned many witnesses as to whether they thought Angela was suicidal. All rejected the idea, some added that she loved life and never gave any indication of hurting herself.

In a surveillance video recorded from a camera in the Craig’s kitchen on March 7 — the day after she began feeling ill — Angela can be heard disputing the fact that she should be treated like a suicide risk.

“Nobody in their right mind would ever think I’d kill myself before I’d kill you,” Angela said in the video. “Nobody. Name one person.”

Multiple of Craig’s extramarital partners testified, as well, including Karin Cain, the woman whom he was seeing at the time of his wife’s death. Cain said that Craig had lied to her about several facets of his life, including telling her that he and Angela were living separately and were already getting a divorce.

Cain also testified that Craig had made her feel a level of safety and comfort that she hadn’t felt in her previous marriage, and that he made her feel “seen” and “heard,” as the two got to know each other during a conference in Las Vegas.

In the three weeks between when they met and Angela’s death, Craig and Cain exchanged nearly 4,000 text messages, some of which included professions of love.

“I’m conflicted because I’m missing you like crazy, but my self-control is not present right now,” one of Craig’s messages to Cain read. “I need a woman who needs me in that way, and I want it all. I love you.”