Defense attorneys ask for delay in Aurora dentist's murder trial

Attorneys for an Aurora dentist accused of poisoning his wife a year ago want his upcoming trial delayed because the toxicologist they hired to testify had a stroke.

James Craig's murder trial is currently scheduled to begin April 18.

Craig’s wife, Angela had high levels of chemical tetrahydrozoline and cyanide in her body that killed her, according to Arapahoe County Coroner Kelly Lear, who did the autopsy.

One of only two witnesses at Craig's preliminary hearing, Lear said that Angela Craig had more than 400 times the amount of tetrahydrozoline in her body than a therapeutic dose. Her manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Tetrahydrozoline is the chemical found in Visine eyedrops. It’s the chemical, Lear explained which “gets the red out.”

Defense expert Henry Spiller, a former director of poison control centers in Ohio and Kentucky, has testified about the dangers of tetrahydrozoline in other trials — perhaps most recently in the November trial of a Pewaukee, Wisconsin woman accused of poisoning her friend with eye drops in 2018.

In their continuance motion, Craig's attorneys said that they became alarmed when they were "suddenly and unexpectedly unable to reach Mr. Spiller" and then realized that he had become ill around Feb. 22.

Spiller, who was retained in the case last September and is "an indispensable witness," according to the motion, told attorneys that his prognosis was good. But in order to secure Craig a fair trial, his attorneys asked for a continuance.

Craig, an Aurora dentist and father of the couple’s six children, faces charges of first-degree murder in the high-profile case which has received national media attention.

Lead Det. Bobbi Olson, an Aurora Police investigator, said Mrs. Craig made emergency room visits three times in March over a period of nine days — each time becoming more increasingly ill.

On March 6,2023 the 43-year-old visited Parker Adventist hospital complaining of global heaviness with possible vertigo. She was released that day only to return on March 9 with symptoms of fatigue, vomiting, headache, lightheadedness, and confusion. She was discharged March 14 only to return for her final visit the next day.

March 15, 2023, Mrs. Craig entered the ER, collapsed, was put on a ventilator and pronounced brain dead that night. She was taken off life support March 18.

Lear stressed that Angela Craig died of acute cyanide and tetrahydrozoline poisoning.

Craig’s attorneys questioned Lear about whether the presence of some of the poisons found in Mrs. Craig’s system could have been there as a result of environmental exposure. Lear admitted that she does see chronic exposure from arsenic or cyanide from chemical plants, but insisted that the levels in Craig's body were fatal and that they did not get there over a long period of time.

A status conference scheduled for Friday morning in Arapahoe County could be interesting as 18th Judicial District Judge Shay Whitaker may rule on a separate issue regarding Google searches for certain types of poisons which were found on a work computer in a back examination room of Craig's dental office.

Craig's attorneys want to suppress the searches for several poisons and whether or not they were detectable. Those queries were discovered by detectives through searching the hard drive of an office computer but made from an account called.

Angela Craig’s own body will likely provide the most crucial piece of evidence in her husband’s murder trial.

Arapahoe County Coroner Kelly Lear testified in court Wednesday that Mrs. Craig’s was poisoned to death last March.

After a day of testimony from two witnesses for the prosecution in James Craig's preliminary hearing, 18th Judicial District Judge Shay Whitaker ruled there was enough probable cause to take the case to trial on the murder charge and one count of tampering with evidence.