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Dentist accused of fatally poisoning wife hit with new charges as lawyer quits

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Dentist accused of fatally poisoning wife hit with new charges as lawyer quits

Days after his defense team “suddenly quit” during jury selection, a Colorado dentist accused of poisoning his wife’s protein shakes to start “a new life” with another woman is facing new charges.

The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s office announced in a Friday post on X that James Toliver Craig faces two additional charges of solicitation to commit murder in the first degree and solicitation to commit perjury in the first degree. Last year, he was charged with and pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in connection with the death of his wife, Angela Craig. 

In a separate post, the office wrote that 45-year-old Craig “declined to represent himself,” and that a judge “continued the trial over the People’s objection.” Prosecutors did not elaborate on why Craig faces new charges.

Angela Craig, a 43-year-old mother of six who was married to her husband for 23 years, died in March 2023 of poisoning from cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, the latter a substance found in over-the-counter eye drops, according to the coroner.

COLORADO DENTIST’S MURDER TRIAL PUT ON HOLD AFTER DEFENSE ‘SUDDENLY QUIT’ PRIOR TO JURY SELECTION

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Colorado dentist James Craig, right, is accused of fatally poisoning his wife and the mother of his six kids, Angela Craig. (Facebook)

On Thursday morning, Craig’s defense counsel moved to withdraw from the case due to a “professional conflict,” according to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. The trial had been delayed before and was set to begin last Thursday with jury selection, KDVR reported.

Craig allegedly flew his orthodontist lover from Austin to Denver while his wife was dying, according to a detailed arrest affidavit. The two also reportedly exchanged “sexually explicit emails.”

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The charging document described the couple’s troubled marriage, financial difficulties and Craig’s alleged plot to murder her.

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“In totality, this investigation has proven that James has gone to great lengths to try and end his wife’s life,” Aurora police Det. Bobbi Olson wrote in the affidavit. 

COLORADO DENTIST ACCUSED OF POISONING WIFE TRIED TO GET FELLOW INMATE TO PLANT FAKE SUICIDE NOTES: POLICE

James Toliver Craig is pictured in a mugshot provided by the Aurora Police Department. (Aurora Police Department)

On Feb. 27, Craig created a secret email account, jimandwaffles.com, which he only used on a computer in his now-shuttered Summerbrook Dental Group, investigators said.

Police say Craig searched online for things like “How to make murder look like a heart attack” and “How to make poison” days before his wife searched for symptoms she was having like vertigo, shaking and cold lips.

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Craig also allegedly researched “undetectable poisons” and purchased some, and he ordered a rush shipment of potassium cyanide even though it was not needed.

COLORADO DENTIST ACCUSED OF POISONING WIFE’S PROTEIN SHAKES TO START NEW LIFE WITH LOVER

Angela and Colorado dentist James Craig in a family portrait. James has been charged with first-degree murder for allegedly poisoning his wife. (Faceboook)

Investigators allege that Craig bought poisons online just before his wife began to experience symptoms that doctors could not find a cause for, but his lawyers have argued there is no direct evidence that he put poison in his wife’s shakes and have accused Olson of being biased against him.

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Her sister, Toni Kofoed, told police that Craig had drugged his wife about five years earlier because he had planned to commit suicide and didn’t want her to stop him.

Kofoed also told investigators that the couple’s marriage had always been “tumultuous” and that Craig had “multiple affairs with several women” and had been “addicted to pornography since he was a teenager.”

COLORADO DENTIST ACCUSED OF FATALLY POISONING WIFE ON VERGE OF FINANCIAL RUIN: COURT PAPERS

Two photos of dentist James Oliver, who is accused of murdering his wife, Angela Craig.  (Facebook)

Angela Craig told her sister several times over the past 16 years that she planned to leave him, but he always convinced her to stay. The couple was also broke and on the verge of declaring bankruptcy for a second time, the documents allege.

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Angela Craig had complained to her sister that her husband had recently gambled away more than $2,000 on a trip to Las Vegas.

Craig was accused in May of asking a fellow jail inmate to plant letters in his garage and his truck to make it look like his wife was suicidal. Olson said the inmate believed the letters were written by Craig but were meant to appear as if his wife had written them.

According to Olson, Craig offered money to pay the inmate’s bond in order to be released from jail or perform free dental work in exchange for planting the letters, but the inmate decided not to take him up on the offer and reported the incident to authorities, the detective previously testified.

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Craig was already charged with first-degree murder and another count of solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence. He pleaded not guilty to those two charges in November 2023.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 16.

Fox News’ Stepheny Price and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 



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New Mexico

New Mexico confirms latest measles case at a local jail

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New Mexico confirms latest measles case at a local jail


The number of confirmed measles cases in New Mexico increased to six after the state’s Department of Health confirmed Wednesday a new case inside a local jail in Las Cruces.

A federal inmate being held in the Doña Ana County Detention Center is the latest person to have tested positive for measles. The New Mexico Department of Health said others may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease from this confirmed case if they visited the U.S. District Court building in Las Cruces on Feb. 24.

State heath officials are now urging anyone who was at the courthouse that day to check their vaccination status and report any measles symptoms from now until March 17 to a health care provider.

“The New Mexico Department of Health continues to urge people to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination,” Dr. Chad Smelser, New Mexico’s deputy state epidemiologist, said in a statement. “Vaccine is the best tool to protect you from measles.”

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Measles spreads through the air and people who contract the virus may experience symptoms such as runny nose, fever, cough, red eyes and a distinctive blotchy rash. These symptoms can develop between one and three weeks after exposure.

All of the six confirmed measles cases in New Mexico so far are federal detainees.

The first measles case was detected in the Hidalgo County Detention Center on Feb. 25, when a detainee, whose vaccination status was unknown, tested positive for the disease by the New Mexico Department of Health’s Scientific Laboratory.

Two days later, a second federal inmate in the same jail tested positive for the virus alongside two detainees in the Luna County Detention Center and another in the Doña Ana County Detention Center.

Both the Luna County and Doña Ana detention centers are local jails that also serve as holding facilities for federal immigration enforcement.

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New Mexico health officials said they are the state’s first confirmed cases of this year, following a statewide outbreak in 2025 that sickened 100 people from mid-February to mid-September.

With two measles cases reported on each of the three local jails, Smelser said that the New Mexico Department of Health has sent vaccination teams to all three facilities.

State health officials are also “coordinating with all the facilities to assure all quarantine, isolation, testing and vaccination protocols are followed to minimize risk of measles spread.”

According to the NBC News measles tracker, more than 1,000 cases have been counted nationwide just in the first two months of this year. That’s nearly half the amount of cases confirmed in the United States in all of last year.

As 2026 already stands as one of the three worst years for measles infections in the country since 2000, another measles outbreak was confirmed this week in Texas inside the nation’s largest immigration detention facility.

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On Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told NBC News that a least 14 cases of measles were confirmed inside Camp East Montana, which is located on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso.

The people who tested positive for measles have been “cohorted and separated from the rest of the detained population to prevent further spread,” the ICE spokesperson said.



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Oregon

Where Oregon Ducks rank in industry recruiting rankings for 2027 class

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Where Oregon Ducks rank in industry recruiting rankings for 2027 class


With the winter evaluation period of high school football recruiting now behind us, we’ve seen some of the top recruiting sites update their rankings over the past few weeks and start to reset their boards for the 2027 class. In February, On3 shifted players around after getting fresh looks at the class, and 247Sports did the same earlier this week.

So with Oregon’s handful of commits getting new ratings, where does the Ducks’ class rank nationally in this cycle?

If you look at sites individually, it looks different, with 247Sports having Oregon sitting at No. 13 in the nation. At Rivals, though, they take the industry ranking, which factors in their own rankings, plus an average from 247Sports and ESPN.

In the industry rankings, Oregon sits at No. 9 in the nation, with five commitments.

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Going into the summer months, the Ducks are in a great spot, leading or among the top schools for a handful of the top prospects in the nation, like 5-star QB Will Mencl or 5-star WR Dakota Guerrant. We will see what movement Oregon can make in the coming months after official visits take place early in the summer.

Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions. 



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Utah

22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide

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22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Officials have identified a 22-year-old man as the suspect in a Las Vegas homicide case that killed two people in a Southern Highlands neighborhood.

Detectives say 22-year-old Ziaire Ham was the suspect in the case. According to officials, Ham was located on Tuesday, March 3, by the Ogden City Police Department and the Utah Highway Patrol.

Ham was taken into custody and booked into the Weber County Jail. Las Vegas authorities said he will be charged with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon and will be extradited back to the valley.

MORE ON FOX5: LVMPD corrections officer arrested on multiple felony charges

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The shooting occurred Monday night at the 11000 block of Victoria Medici Street, near Starr Ave and Dean Martin Drive.

According to police, officers were conducting a vehicle stop in the area when they heard gunfire. After searching nearby neighborhoods they found a car with bullet impacts with a woman and a toddler inside suffering from gunshot wounds.

The pair were transported to hospital where they later died. The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified them as Danaijha Robinson, 20, and 1-year-old Nhalani Hiner.



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