Finally, a news link with incredible details about the preliminary hearing -- including the name of the Judge (Judge Shay K Whitaker) presiding over the PH.
James Toliver Craig appeared in an Arapahoe County District Court on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing on first-degree murder charge
www.independent.co.uk
7/12/23
Sheila Flynn at Arapahoe County District Court,
Rachel Sharp-- 5 hours ago
Colorado dentist and father-of-six James Toliver Craig leaned back in his chair and twiddled his thumbs through his handcuffs on Wednesday, his beard unkempt above his orange prison jumpsuit, as court took a brief recess from a preliminary hearing on the first-degree murder charge he faces for allegedly poisoning his wife.
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Mr Craig, 45, was arrested one day after Angela, 43, was pronounced dead on 18 March following her third hospitalisation in a month for a host of concerning and worsening symptoms. Prosecutors on Wednesday revealed Mr Craig was also now facing a second charge without specifying what it was.
But testimony from the Arapahoe County Coroner and lead detective – as reporters, several of Angela’s siblings and the couple’s oldest son sat in the courtroom – included a number of explosive claims.
According to evidence given by Arapahoe County Coroner Dr Kelly Lear, samples showed that Angela had an arsenic level of 68 around 11.50am on 15 March – but that level had increased to 330 just after 8.20pm.
That would be “consistent with her receiving additional cyanide exposure in that time period,” Dr Lear said.
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The cause of death she listed in her report was acute “cyanide and tetrahydrozoline poisoning; the manner of death is homicide,” she testified Wednesday. Tetrahydrozoline is the decongestant used in Visine eye drops – and, according to the prosecution,
in the weeks before his wife’s death, Mr Craig had accessed an article about how a woman in another state had been poisoned after consuming something containing five bottles of eyedrops.
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On 6 March, the prosecutor told the court, Mr Craig conducted a google search for “how the chemical in eyedrops attacks your body if swallowed and can potentially kill you.
“These are the actions of a man who is determined to kill his wife,” he argued.
That date, 6 March, marked the first time Angela presented at Parker Adventist Hospital. Det. Olson testified that she had reviewed weeks of internal and external home surveillance footage from the Craig residence, and, on 6 March, Mr Craig can be seen making what appears to be a protein shake then sipped by his wife.
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Mr Craig’s pay was $39,000 in January and less than $16,000 the following month, she said. The dentist had taken out four life insurance policies on his wife from two companies totaling nearly $4.5million, the court heard.
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Following Wednesday’s preliminary hearing, Judge Shay K Whitaker ruled that the prosecution had met the burden for probable cause and set the next court date for 29 August.
