"He deserves to be found guilty"
In their rebuttal, prosecutor Ryan Brackley opened his argument by recalling how prosecutor Mauro asked jurors to protect James Craig's right to the presumption of innocence, saying they have never asked the jury to take away that right.
"He deserves a fair trial — his lawyers worked hard," Brackley said. "Now, he deserves to be found guilty."
Reiterating that James Craig is guilt of first-degree murder, "what separates this from second degree murder is intent and deliberation."
"James Craig researched not only where to buy those poisons, but how much was needed to kill Angela Craig."
Arguing that "nobody wants to believe" James Craig or his reasoning for murdering his wife could be so simple, Brackley said detectives went back to both his home and his dentist's office to search for evidence a second time.
"When they searched the home for the first time, they didn't yet know about the Clindamycin, they read that iPhone manifesto the next morning," Brackley said.
Brackley, mentioning the seventh count — assisted suicide — said that other than James Craig's statements, "there is not one shred of evidence was suicidal."
"There's no evidence Angela Craig asked him to order the poisons, no evidence she asked him to research the poisons, no evidence she knowingly ingested poison," Brackley said.
Prosecutors said Angela spent the last 10 days of her life trying to figure out why she was sick, adding James Craig "went into great detail" instructing his daughter on how to make it look like her mother did all of this herself.
"James Craig never said in any letters or the iPhone note that there is real evidence that Angela Craig wanted to kill herself — didn't show where to find it — instead he tried to manufacture it," Brackley said.
Brackley argued what Mauro reiterated over and over earlier in the day — jurors would have to believe Angela made everything up; the texts to family, the Google searches for the poisons to absolve her husband of any guilt.
"You'd have to believe that this woman, who spent the last 10 days fighting for her life, was also spending the last 10 days of her life in this drama that she made up with James Craig," Brackley said. "Why would she do that? What's her motive to do that? So James Craig can go and be with another woman?"
Brackley then went on to note several examples of Angela Craig fighting for her life, including searching for an emergency room on Colfax Avenue as she's on her way to the hospital one last time.
He also talked about a text Angela had sent James, which showed how she was trying to fight for her marriage, despite his infidelities.
"Your healing and happiness, this marriage, is more important than my day. You are more important than my day," the text read, as Brackley explained this was sent at the same time James Craig had already ordered poison and was already talking with Dr. Cain, one of his many romantic partners.
Angela Craig, prosecutors said, never broke her spirit to have hope for James Craig.
"Angela Craig was not broken, her spirit was not broken, we all have issues and struggles, it's hard to raise kids when your husband spends 20 years cheating on you," Brackley said. "But how do you get from there, to suicide?"
He then added, "You know who didn't fight for Angela Craig? — Him," Brackley said, as he pointed at James Craig, who was hanging his head.
Prosecutors then provided a timeline for the murder of Angela Craig as they wrapped their rebuttal, which Denver7 is presenting below:
- Feb. 25, 2023 — James Craig gets home from Las Vegas
- Feb. 27, 2023 — Dr. Karin Cain (one of James Craig's romantic partners) books a trip to Colorado; suspect starts to research poisons, orders arsenic
- Feb. 28, 2023 — James Craig continues search for poisons
- March 1, 2023 — James Craig continues to search for poisons
- March 4, 2023 — Arsenic arrives at James Craig's dental office
- March 6, 2023 — Angela Craig's life changes after James Craig makes her a smoothie. She gets sick and never recovers
- March 8, 2023 — James Craig orders cyanide, buys 12 bottles of visine
- March 9, 2023 — Angela Craig goes to the ER
- March 10, 2023 — James Craig goes to Midland Scientific, a distributor of lab products, including chemicals and supplies
- March 11, 2023 — James Craig spends the whole day trying to get the cyanide package
- March 13, 2023 — The cyanide arrives
- March 14, 2023 — James Craig gives Angela Craig the visine smoothie at night
- March 15, 2023 — James Craig tells brother-in-law give Angela Craig the Clindamycin
- March 17, 2023 — James Craig goes on a date with Dr. Cain.
The jury was excused and jury deliberations began shortly before 1 p.m.
Jury deliberations began early Tuesday afternoon after both the prosecution and defense delivered their closing arguments in the trial against the Aurora dentist charged in his wife's murder.
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