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Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Yahoo
Colorado dentist drugged wife years before alleged poisoning murder, friend testifies
Angela Craig's lifelong best friend took the stand Monday as the Colorado murder trial of dentist James Craig entered its second week, telling jurors that the mother of six was never the kind of woman who gave up easily. "She wasn't a risk-taker. She wasn't manipulative," Nicole Harmon told the court. "And she never said anything — ever — about wanting to die." Dr. James Toliver Craig, 47, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 2023 death of his wife, 43-year-old Angela Craig. Her cause of death was determined to be lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline. Dentist Accused Of Poisoning Wife's Shake Said He Gave Her 'Too Much Protein': Co-worker On March 9, 2023, approximately one week before the 43-year-old was pronounced brain-dead, Angela texted Harmon asking for help checking her blood sugar. When she arrived, she found Angela curled up. "She hadn't eaten. She couldn't stand," Harmon said, telling the jury that James had made his wife a shake that morning. Read On The Fox News App When the friend texted and asked what was going on, she testified, James brushed it off. "Post-COVID," he texted. "Not diabetes." Not once, she told jurors, did he mention poison. "Angela never knew what was killing her," the witness said. Harmon shared that she and her husband, Mike, had known the Craigs since the 2000s. Angela was hospitalized for five days. Through Angela's prolonged hospital stays, Harmon said that she never expressed that she wanted to die. Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X Harmon's testimony went back to 2019, when the witness said James made a confession to her and her husband. He told them in 2019 that he planned to inject himself with a lethal substance and had drugged Angela first so she wouldn't stop him. David Gelman, a criminal defense attorney who has been following the case, told Fox News Digital that the drugging incident could help the prosecution "because it shows that James was predisposed to drugging Angela before." "It required intent and thought. The same motive that the prosecution has now for James," he said. "That is an aspect I would really hammer if I'm the prosecution." Sign Up To Get The True Crime Newsletter James also admitted to the Harmons that he, in 2019, was dealing with a "sexual addiction," and told them that he was in therapy, she testified. Angela, her friend said, never brought it up. Harmon testified that she sent Angela a message later: "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were dealing with this." Angela replied: "You weren't there when I needed you." Colorado Dentist's Alleged Internet Search History Takes Center Stage As Murder Trial Begins From that moment, the decades-long friendship fractured. "She was angry," Harmon said. "Really mad at her life and how it was turning out. And I was OK with that. I was OK with her taking it out on me." Gelman said the years-long gap in communication between Angela and her best friend doesn't undermine the witness's reliability. "It doesn't hurt her credibility. She can only testify by what she has observed and her conversations with Angela," he said. "Obviously, she is not privy to the inner workings of the marriage with James since the relationship fractured, but her credibility is still intact since she was not confused or crossed up on the stand." The longtime friend testified that Angela never opened up about the inner workings of her marriage. "She had all the chances," the witness said. "She never told me. She didn't want me to see her husband differently." READ THE INCIDENT REPORT – APP USERS, Click Here GET REAL-TIME UPDATES AT THE FOX NEWS True Crime Hub Investigators alleged in court documents obtained by Fox News Digital that, in the weeks before his wife's hospitalization and death, James used a dental office computer to search for "undetectable poisons" and how to obtain them (later purchasing arsenic and cyanide by mail), "how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human" and "is arsenic detectable in an autopsy?" Alongside these online searches, investigators alleged he made YouTube queries such as "how to make poison" and "Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play." Fox News Digital has reached out to James Craig's lead attorney, Lisa Fine Moses, for article source: Colorado dentist drugged wife years before alleged poisoning murder, friend testifies
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Yahoo
Karen Read trial: Canton cop explains using leaf blower, red Solo cups, Stop & Shop bag for evidence
A former Canton police lieutenant who was in charge of the scene of John O'Keefe's death on Jan. 29, 2022, testified about his decision to use unorthodox evidence collection means that morning in the trial of Karen Read, a Massachusetts financial analyst accused of running over her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, and leaving him to die in the snow. Last week saw days of testimony from Jennifer McCabe, a key witness who was present at the after-party on the night O'Keefe died and with Read at the scene when he was found dead the next morning. Special prosecutor Hank Brennan churned through witnesses Monday, calling a blood-alcohol expert, a young couple who saw Read's car outside before prosecutors believe O'Keefe was struck and killed, a paramedic and the former Canton cop who used a leaf blower and red Solo cups to collect evidence. Jennifer Mccabe Doubles Down On Karen Read's Alleged 'I Hit Him' Confession But Can't Find It In Paper Trail Karen Read listens to testimony during her trial, May 5, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. Former Canton Lt. Paul Gallagher, who was the supervisor on scene after O'Keefe had been transported to Good Samaritan Hospital, was the decision maker responsible for a number of unorthodox methods used to collect evidence on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022. Gallagher said he wanted the leaf blower used because he was afraid disturbing the snow with a shovel could damage potential evidence. He said the red Solo cups "hold liquid terrifically" and claimed that the paper grocery bag used to transport them was similar to an evidence bag police would have used if they'd had one. Read On The Fox News App Karen Read Scores Major Win As Judge Allows Crash Reconstruction Testimony Defense attorney Alan Jackson questions Canton Fire Department paramedic/firefighter Katie McLaughlin during the Karen Read trial, May 5, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES FROM THE Fox True Crime Hub At one point, Gallagher denied having any knowledge that disgraced Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor was the lead investigator on the case, prompting a visible reaction from Read at the defense table, who mouthed words that did not reach the courthouse microphones. Defense attorney Alan Jackson took issue with the lax standards of evidence collection during a grueling cross-examination, questioning Gallagher about his lack of a firsthand account in writing, potential contamination of the blood evidence, and an unclear chain of custody or evidence logs. Jackson asked why he sent a sergeant to get a leaf blower but didn't send anyone to grab proper evidence collection materials. Karen Read Crash Expert Admits He Sent Notes To Defense, Broke Sequestration Order In First Trial But Gallagher shot back that had O'Keefe's blood sample been contaminated by someone else's DNA, it would have shown up on testing and been "good" for Read's defense. "[The cups] weren't going to get soggy," Gallagher said. "They were large. I needed a small sample. My thought was, because [the blood] was frozen or coagulated, that we could collect it, transport it and transfer it to the crime lab, who could extract the DNA however they saw best fit." He said he made decisions on the fly due to ongoing blizzard conditions and a lack of awareness at the time that a crime had been committed. The initial call came over as a possible "unattended death," which he said usually involves natural causes. Special prosecutor Hank Brennan questions Canton Fire Department paramedic/firefighter Katie McLaughlin during the Karen Read trial, May 5, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. Gallagher responded to the scene in his personal vehicle because it had four-wheel drive, he said. He instructed officers to put frozen blood in the snow into the Solo cups and stored them in a bag from Stop & Shop, a supermarket. He also uncovered a broken "cocktail glass" with the leaf blower near his approximation of where O'Keefe died. Brennan played two videos of Gallagher using the leaf blower at the crime scene, depicting how effective it was at revealing John O'Keefe's blood on the snow. Brennan noted a broken cocktail glass could be seen buried in the snow next to where O'Keefe's body was found. Gallagher testified that he handed the glass off to another officer at the scene and did not see it again until it was moved from an evidence locker to the forensic unit. Retired Lt. Paul Gallagher of the Canton Police Department takes the stand during the Karen Read trial, May 5, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. Gallagher went on to reveal the glass inside the courtroom and held it up for the jurors. Read has denied that her vehicle struck O'Keefe and pleaded not guilty. Outside auditors previously recommended more training for Canton police after an independent review of their handling of the crime scene. Gallagher is expected to return to the witness stand Tuesday morning. Katie McLaughlin, a paramedic with the Canton Fire Department who was at the scene, testified earlier that after she asked Read for demographic information about O'Keefe and if there had been any significant trauma to the victim. Katie McLaughlin, a paramedic/firefighter with the Canton Fire Department, testifies on May 5, 2025. "She answered with a series of statements that she repeated, 'I hit him, I hit him,'" McLaughlin testified. McCabe told her to calm down, she said, but Read allegedly kept repeating the phrase. "And a police officer asked her, 'Said you what?'" she testified. "And she repeated it again, 'I hit him.' And the officer then signaled for his sergeant to come down to the scene." On cross-examination, McLaughlin told defense attorney Jackson that she didn't take notes during the exchange. He played back dashcam video from that morning and asked her what she was doing. She said she was writing O'Keefe's vitals on her gloves. He asked if she wrote down anything about Read "confessing" to the crime. She said she hadn't and that she threw the gloves out and did not preserve any notes from them. McLaughlin testified that she had known Caitlin Albert, whose parents owned the home at 34 Fairview Road where O'Keefe was found dead, for years, having grown up together and had overlapping social circles. However, she denied they shared a close personal relationship and downplayed their ties. Jackson tried to have McLaughlin discuss photographs showing her and Caitlin Albert and to grill her about her testimony from Read's first trial, but the judge sustained Brennan's repeated objections. Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X Ryan Nagel and Heather Maxon, who were dating at the time of O'Keefe's death in January 2022, both testified they were stopped outside 34 Fairview Road for about five minutes, arriving around the time as Read and O'Keefe and leaving before she allegedly hit him with her SUV. Read drove in front of them as they were pulling onto the road, and there was a male in the passenger seat, according to trial testimony. Both testified that in the minutes they were behind Read's SUV outside the address, they did not see him walking across the front yard or entering the house, but they also did not see him in the passenger seat of Read's vehicle when they drove right next to it as they were leaving. Outside experts told Fox News Digital that Nagel's testimony could help the defense, raising questions about O'Keefe's whereabouts at that time. SIGN UP TO GET True Crime Newsletter "He did not see John O'Keefe in the car or on the lawn or crossing the lawn," said Grace Edwards, a Massachusetts defense attorney who has been following the trial. "So where was John O'Keefe?" The question could boost the defense's assertion that Read never struck her boyfriend with her SUV, according to John Deaton, another Massachusetts trial attorney and former Senate candidate. "Today's testimony hurts the prosecution, as a witness stated the passenger seat was empty next to Karen Read in the driver's seat, suggesting that John O'Keefe was already inside the house," he told Fox News Digital. "That's probably reasonable doubt No. 10." Sarah Levinson, a friend of Nagel's sister who was inside the house, testified that O'Keefe did not come into the home before she left between 1:30 and 2 a.m. with McCabe, her husband, Matt and Julie Nagel. Read faces charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and fleeing the scene. She could face up to life in prison if convicted of the top charge. Original article source: Karen Read trial: Canton cop explains using leaf blower, red Solo cups, Stop & Shop bag for evidence
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Yahoo
Menendez brothers demand Los Angeles DA recuse himself or be disqualified in resentencing case
The attorney representing convicted murderers Erik and Lyle Menendez has taken action to try to disqualify Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman and his office from representing the state in the brothers' resentencing case. Attorney Mark Geragos and his cocounsels filed paperwork on Friday announcing a motion to disqualify Hochman's office, citing a "conflict of interest." The motion is before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic, who is presiding over the matter. The brothers, who are currently serving life without parole for killing their parents in 1989, are fighting for reduced sentences. Timeline Of The Menendez Brothers' Murder Case The next scheduled hearing date in the case is May 9. "This motion is brought under the constitutions of the United States and the State of California as well as California Penal Code 1424, and is made on the grounds that, absent recusal, a conflict of interest would render it likely that the defendants will receive neither a fair hearing nor fair treatment through all related proceedings," according to the document announcing the motion to disqualify. Read On The Fox News App Read the Menendez brothers' filing: If the motion is not granted, Geragos will request an evidentiary hearing to show the court that the conflict of interest exists and plans to call Hochman and several others to testify. Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X The motion centers around an attorney recently hired by Hochman to work in the district attorney's office. Last October, former Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon announced that he was considering a request for resentencing of the Menendez brothers. Shortly thereafter, more than 20 Menendez family members who support the resentencing met with deputy district attorneys Nancy Theberge and Brock Lunsford. The single family member who objected and did not attend the meeting, Milton Andersen, filed an amicus brief through his attorney, Kathleen Cady, opposing the resentencing. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE True Crime Hub After Hochman defeated Gascon on Nov. 5 of last year, Hochman began restaffing his office with those who opposed the Menendez brothers' resentencing, according to the document filed by the brothers' attorneys. Geragos said that Hochman intentionally reassigned Theberge and Lunsford, viewed as Menendez sympathizers, to another office. He also said that Hochman hired Cady, who represented the sole Menendez family member against the resentencing, to head the district attorney's Office of Victims' Services, despite recognizing a conflict of interest Cady had in the case. SIGN UP TO GET True Crime Newsletter The document said that Cady's conflict of interest extends outside the courtroom, too. She is, according to Geragos, a board member of a group called Justice For Murdered Children, and on April 13, the group held a rally headlined by Hochman. During that rally, the group condemned the Menendez brothers' resentencing. The document also claimed that Cady has ignored the Menendez family members in her official capacity in the Victims' Services office, and that, in violation of victims' services law, she did not warn them of gruesome imagery from the murder scene that would be displayed during an April 11 hearing in the resentencing proceedings. Menendez Brothers' Aunt Hospitalized After Da Shares Graphic Photos In Court: 'There Was No Warning' Fox News Digital reached out to Hochman's office. Erik and Lyle Menendez killed their mother, Mary "Kitty" Menendez, and their father, Jose Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. They argued that years of sexual abuse at the hands of their father led to the slayings. In 1994, their first trial ended in a mistrial. They were convicted after a second trial in 1996. They have spent 35 years behind article source: Menendez brothers demand Los Angeles DA recuse himself or be disqualified in resentencing case
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Yahoo
Karen Read appeals double jeopardy ruling to US Supreme Court
With jury selection underway for her second murder trial in the death of Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, attorneys for Karen Read are appealing a lower court's ruling that she is not facing double jeopardy to the U.S. Supreme Court. Read's first trial ended with a mistrial last year, but her lawyers have argued that the jury agreed unanimously that she was not guilty of two of the three charges, including the most serious of murder, and that keeping those on the books for her second trial is unconstitutionally placing her on trial twice for the same crime. This agreement was unannounced at trial, however. Probe Of Town Police In Karen Read Case Finds No Sign Of 'Conspiracy To Frame' Slain Officer's Girlfriend According to the 149-page filing, Read's lawyers are presenting the high court with two questions: Whether a final and unanimous, but unannounced, decision by a jury following trial that the prosecution failed to prove a defendant guilty of a charged offense constitutes an acquittal precluding retrial under the Double Jeopardy Clause. Whether a defendant who produces credible evidence of such a final, unanimous, and unannounced acquittal is entitled to a post-trial hearing to substantiate the fact of such acquittal. Karen Read And John O'keefe: Inside Evolution Of Boston Murder Mystery Since July Mistrial Read On The Fox News App The Fifth Amendment guarantees constitutional protection from facing double jeopardy – trial or punishment for the same offense twice. After a mistrial, a retrial can normally proceed – but Read's lawyers argue the unique circumstances in her case place her under double jeopardy on the two charges jurors agreed on but did not announce. Go Here For Full Coverage Of The 2Nd Karen Read Trial Over days of stalled deliberations, jurors repeatedly sent notes to the court explaining they were at an impasse, and Judge Beverly Cannone instructed them to keep trying. Deliberations began on June 25, 2024. By July 1, with jurors still deadlocked, the judge declared a mistrial. In their appeal, Read's lawyers said the judge did not give counsel for either side the opportunity to speak and dismissed the jury without asking them if they were locked on all charges or any charges individually. Karen Read Jury Selection: Dozens In Pool Already Have An Opinion On The Case The next day, a juror identified as Juror A contacted Read's attorney, Alan Jackson, and told him that the panel had "unanimously agreed that Karen Read is not guilty of Count 1 (second-degree murder)," according to the lawsuit. Text messages purportedly sent from Juror B expressed similar claims, according to the lawsuit. Jurors C and D also reached out to Read's team with similar versions of events, according to the filing. Additionally, at least one juror said it in a voicemail for prosecutors. Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X "It was not guilty on second degree," Juror B wrote in a text shared with another Read attorney, David Yannetti. "And split in half for the second charge…I thought the prosecution didn't prove the case. No one thought she hit him on purpose or even thought she hit him on purpose." In a phone conversation, Read's lawyers claim Juror B clarified the second sentence of that text, saying it should have read, "No one thought she hit him on purpose or even knew that she had hit him." SIGN UP TO GET True Crime Newsletter The murder charge was "off the table," according to the filing, and Juror A also said jurors agreed that Read was not guilty of leaving the scene. Read was arrested on charges of drunken driving, manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident, and later indicted for the additional charge of second-degree murder after she allegedly backed into O'Keefe outside a party and drove away, leaving him to die on the ground in a snowstorm. If her appeal is successful, she would just face the manslaughter charge. Appellate courts in Massachusetts have already denied her request, finding that because no verdict had been read in court, she was not acquitted of any charges and is not facing double jeopardy. Her legal team turned to the nation's highest court this week, asking them to review a lower court's decision and for a post-trial hearing on the matter. Read could face life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder at her second trial, which began Tuesday. She has pleaded not guilty and denied involvement in O'Keefe's death, with her defense presenting her as a scapegoat being framed by the alleged true article source: Karen Read appeals double jeopardy ruling to US Supreme Court
