Victim or manipulator? Colorado dentist’s murder trial paints dueling portraits of wife in troubled marriage

As prosecutors attempted to paint a Colorado dentist as a calculated killer who poisoned his wife to pursue a new romantic life, the defense took a dramatically different route by portraying his wife of 23 years as emotionally manipulative and mentally 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."

COLORADO DENTIST'S ALLEGED INTERNET SEARCH HISTORY TAKES CENTER STAGE AS MURDER TRIAL BEGINS

James Craig tears up during opening arguments in his murder trial in Arapahoe District Court Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Centennial, Colo. Craig is accused of murdering his wife. (Stephen Swofford/Denver Gazette via Pool)

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.

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."

Ryan Brackley, a lawyer for the prosecution, delivers his opening arguments during the murder trial of James Craig in Arapahoe District Court Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Centennial, Colo. (Stephen Swofford/Denver Gazette via Pool)

Ashley Whitham, a lawyer for the defense, delivers her opening arguments during a murder trial for James Craig in Arapahoe District Court Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Centennial, Colo. (Stephen Swofford/Denver Gazette via Pool)

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.

"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.

SMALL-TOWN DENTIST FACING TRIAL FOR ALLEGEDLY POISONING WIFE'S PROTEIN SHAKE AMID SECRET AFFAIR

"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.

"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.

Colorado dentist James Craig is accused of fatally poisoning his wife and the mother of his six kids, Angela Craig. (Facebook)

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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."

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Fox News Digital has reached out to James Craig's lead attorney, Lisa Fine Moses, for comment.