CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado dentist accused of killing his wife by gradually poisoning her wanted out of a marriage he felt trapped in, but didn’t want to seek a divorce to protect his money and image, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

During closing arguments in the murder trial of James Craig, Senior Chief Deputy Michael Mauro disputed Craig’s claim that his wife wanted to kill herself rather than get divorced. Mauro said Angela Craig was a hopeful person who had pushed forward through Craig’s infidelity for years while leaning on her faith.

After poisonings, including of his wife’s smoothies, failed to kill her, prosecutors allege, Craig gave her a fatal dose of cyanide as she lay in her hospital bed on March 15, 2023, as doctors tried to figure out what was ailing her. She was declared brain dead soon after.

“She is the ultra-marathon runner of dealing with this man’s betrayal, but she couldn’t outrun it at University Hospital on March 15,” Mauro said, pointing repeatedly at Craig and referring to him as “this man.”

James Craig is charged with first-degree murder in his wife’s death in suburban Denver in 2023. He is also accused of trying to fabricate evidence to make it look like she killed herself and of asking a fellow jail inmate to kill the detective who led the investigation into his wife’s death.

Jurors have the option of finding Craig guilty of manslaughter if they believe he helped his wife kill herself. But prosecutors say the only evidence Angela Craig wanted to end her life comes from James Craig, who they say isn’t reliable and who allegedy tried to fabricate evidence making it look like his wife died by suicide.

Photos from a hospital security camera shown in court depict Craig holding a syringe before he went into her room before her condition severely worsened, Mauro said. After administering the fatal dose through her IV, Craig walked out and texted with a fellow dentist he recently began having an affair with, he said.

But one of Craig’s attorneys, Lisa Fine Moses, told jurors that the image was blurry and the syringes that investigators recovered did not contain any poison. She also said the couple wasn’t in financial trouble and that Craig’s cheating had been going on for years and had never been a motivation for murder before.

“So you know what, good job,” Moses said sarcastically, looking at the prosecution, “you proved beyond a reasonable doubt that this guy is a cheater.”

Moses suggested Angela Craig, after struggling in her marriage for years, was suicidal. She pointed to a journal entry where Angela Craig wrote in 2009: “I feel depressed. I feel a huge sense of loss with no hope” — and similar entries in 2018. Her journal ended that year.

Craig, wearing a light gray suit and white shirt, appeared to grow emotional as the entries were read. He wiped his nose and eyes with a tissue.

Angela Craig, who had six children with James Craig, died during her third trip to the hospital in a little over a week. Toxicology tests determined the 43-year-old died of poisoning from cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient found in over-the-counter eye drops.

James Craig didn’t testify, and his lawyers didn’t present any witnesses. Instead, the defense faulted police for focusing solely on James Craig as a suspect.

In notes that police found on James Craig’s phone, the dentist said Angela Craig asked him to help kill her with poison when he sought a divorce after he had affairs. In the document, which was labeled “timeline,” Craig said he eventually agreed to purchase and prepare poisons for her to take, but not administer them. Craig said that he put cyanide in some of the antibiotic capsules she had been taking and also prepared a syringe containing cyanide.

According to that timeline, Craig wrote that just before she had to go to the hospital on March 15, 2023, she must have ingested a mixture containing tetrahydrozoline, the eye drop ingredient, because she became lethargic and weak. Then, he wrote, she took the antibiotic laced with cyanide that he prepared for her.

Mark Pray, who was visiting to help the Craig family because of his sister’s mysterious illness, testified that he gave Angela Craig the capsules after being instructed to do so by James Craig, who was not at home. Pray said his sister bent over and couldn’t hold herself up after taking the medicine. He and his wife then took her to the hospital.

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Associated Press writer Colleen Slevin contributed to this report from Denver.