Daughter’s heartbreaking words in court as dad is found guilty of killing her mom with poisoned protein shake
Liv Bridge
Featured Image Credit: CNN
The daughter of the man convicted of slowly killing her mom by poisoning her protein shake issued a damning statement in court ahead of his sentencing.
James Craig, a former dentist from Colorado, has been sentenced to life behind bars without parole after being convicted of murdering his wife by regularly poisoning her drinks amongst a raft of other disturbing charges, including trying to get a cop killed and a deepfake of his victim.
The Arapahoe County Court heard how the 47-year-old had been having an affair when he plotted to kill his wife, Angela Craig, in March 2023.
Craig methodically laced her protein shakes with arsenic and even administered her the fatal dose of cyanide while she lay ill in hospital, according to the prosecution, which also argued how Craig had money troubles and did not want to file for divorce.
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Meanwhile, defence lawyers attempted to argue that his 43-year-old wife had taken her own life, as a result of being heartbroken by Craig's 'constant' affairs.
However, a coroner determined her cause of death as cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a chemical used in eye drops, and noted arsenic in her system.
Now, one of the couple's daughters, Miriam Meservy, has faced her disgraced father with a few choice words.
"I was supposed to be able to trust my dad," she said. "He was supposed to be my hero, and instead he'll forever be the villain in my book."
She added: "And it hurts so bad every day."
According to CBS News, Craig was visibly upset by his daughter's words, and was stirred again when his son also spoke.
Toliver Craig, the Craigs' oldest child and son, said: "It's hard to lose your mom, and then a few days after that, lose your dad. And then after that, you know, having to spend the next two and a half years having to untangle whatever he tells you.
"It's just been really hard not being able to mourn my mom."
The court heard how Angela had become sicker over time through regularly being poisoned by Craig, who also had some suspicious internet history, such as his searches on how to make a murder look like a heart attack and how long it takes to die from arsenic poisoning.
"Is arsenic detectable in autopsy?" was another of his searches, the authorities found.
Police also said he had searched if there were any undetectable poisons and 'how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human.'
Craig had also purchased potassium cyanide which was delivered to his dental practice.
Two days after the delivery, Angela drank a protein shake that made her feel dizzy and weak before going to a hospital in Denver.
CCTV footage then showed Craig holding a syringe before visiting his wife's hospital room, after which her condition rapidly deteriorated until she was declared brain-dead days later.
While a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday (July 30), he was also sentenced for other charges, including solicitation to commit murder after he tried to convince a fellow inmate to kill the lead investigator working on the case.
Other charges include two counts of solicitation of tampering with physical evidence and two counts of solicitation of first-degree perjury.
That included a conviction of trying to get one of his children to create an AI deepfake video of Angela contemplating suicide.
Arapahoe County District Judge Shay Whitaker said: "Dr. Craig unleased a path of destruction as wide as a tornado, and just as devastating," before passing him a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murder charge, plus another 33 years for the additional counts.
Assistant District Attorney Ryan Brackley said: "The evidence never stopped getting worse. Enlisting his daughter, to try to help him cover this case up, to fix this case was probably one of the more heinous things I've seen."
District Attorney Amy Padden also said Angela died a 'slow death' as a result of the poisonings, adding: "It wasn't something done in the heat of passion. It was deliberate."