Daughter says Aurora dentist James Craig, who will serve life sentence for fatally poisoning wife, will "forever be the villain"

James Craig, a former Colorado dentist, will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murdering his wife by methodically poisoning her.

During Wednesday's Arapahoe County Court proceedings, Judge Shay Whitaker compared the Aurora man to a natural disaster. 

"Dr. Craig unleased a path of destruction as wide as a tornado, and just as devastating," Whitaker said.

Miriam Meservy, of the daughters of Craig and his victim Angela Craig, says life won't be as bright without her mom. She was among the family members who spoke just before the judge sentenced Craig to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A jury convicted Craig in the early afternoon of first-degree murder. Authorities said before her death, Craig searched the internet for information on how to make a murder look like a heart attack, how long it takes to die from arsenic poisoning and if there is such a thing as an undetectable poison. Angela became sicker over time as he repeatedly poisoned her protein shakes. He was also accused of giving her poison while she was in the hospital. A coroner determined cyanide and tetrahydrozoline caused her death and found there was also arsenic in her system.

His defense maintained that Angela was suicidal, but friends and family said she wasn't depressed and wouldn't do that.

"I knew that her love for life would never be trumped by someone else. She would never leave her children. So as soon as that was presented to me there was no question," said Angela Craig's sister Toni Kofoed during a news conference following the sentencing.

Angela Craig's family was steadfast in their devotion to her.

"She stood behind us and that was our job for her to be her voice, to be her strength and to make sure justice was done for her," said Angela Craig's sister Toni Kofoed.  

Craig was also convicted of solicitation to commit first-degree murder for asking another inmate to kill the lead investigator in the case. Other charges he was convicted of include two counts of solicitation of tampering with physical evidence and two counts of solicitation of first-degree perjury. That included conviction for trying to get a daughter to create a deepfake video of Angela Craig contemplating suicide.

Prosecutors were bothered by the entirety of the case.

"The evidence never stopped getting worse," said assistant district attorney Ryan Brackley.

"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," Brackley added.

The judge gave Craig the maximum sentence in each charge, totalling another 33 years in prison.

Angela's family and friends had the chance to speak before the sentencing on Wednesday. Two of Angela's six children gave impact statements, as well as several of her siblings.

Before the sentencing, many family members described Angela as a light in the family, but most importantly, a mother who loved her children.

Meservy gave an emotional statement, describing how her father destroyed the lives of his family members.

"I'm supposed to be able to trust my dad. He was supposed to be my hero and instead he will forever be the villain in my life," Meservy said.

Craig then began weeping and became very emotional; the other moment he showed emotion was when his son 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."

District Attorney Amy Padden with the 18th Judicial District said Craig's "selfish and deceitful actions shattered a family, stole a mother from six children and attempted to manipulate those closest to him with chilling calculation."

"I hope this conviction and life sentence in prison brings a measure of justice to Angela, to her children, to her family and everyone who loved her," Padden said.