A Colorado attorney accused of setting his own house on fire last week appeared in court Tuesday after he was formally charged with two counts of felony arson.
Robert Werking — who had been representing Aurora dentist James Craig in a high-profile murder case — attended the brief hearing virtually and appeared to be sitting in a hospital bed. The 59-year-old did not address the court except to ask for time to speak privately with his attorneys, David Beller and Victor Stazzone.
Attorney for Aurora dentist accused of poisoning wife is arrested in arson of own home, withdraws on eve of murder trial
Prosecutors charged Werking with first-degree and fourth-degree arson, both felonies, after authorities say he set fire to his own Centennial home just before midnight June 28.
First responders found him sitting on the front porch with flames burning behind him. Werking also faces a weapons charge from a June 14 incident.
He and his wife, Lisa Fine Moses, were the attorneys representing Craig, who is charged with poisoning his wife to death. Werking withdrew from the case after his arrest, just days before Craig’s jury trial, which is scheduled to start Thursday.
Fine Moses has remained as Craig’s attorney. She is named as a victim in the arson case because Werking is accused of burning the home the couple owns together without her consent. The formal complaint also names Werking’s neighbor as a victim, because the fire endangered the home the neighbor owned next door.
Beller declined to immediately comment Tuesday. Werking is next scheduled to return to court on Sept. 19.
Craig’s trial is still set to go forward on Thursday. The 47-year-old is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Angela Craig, 43, who died March 18, 2023, from lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a decongestant found in over-the-counter eyedrops.
Investigators allege James Craig bought arsenic and cyanide days before his wife was poisoned to death, searched online about how to poison someone, was having an affair and faced financial difficulties.
Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.
Related Posts:
- NHS forces dentist to repay £150,000 ‘because his patients are too healthy’ News The government has admitted that NHS dentristry funding formulas need to change (Picture: Getty) A dentist says his surgery is being forced to pay £150,000 back to the health service effectively because his patients ‘are being looked after better’. Rob Mew, who owns Fairfield House Dental Surgery in Exmouth, Devon,…
- Wagner Group ‘proxies’ carried out arson on Ukraine-linked warehouse in London News Ugnius Asmena (left to right), Nii Mensah and Jakeem Rose were tracked down after committing arson at a Ukraine-linked warehouse in London (Picture: Metropolitan Police/PA) Three men acting on the orders of Russia’s terrorist Wagner Group have been found guilty of an arson attack that resulted in around £1 million of…
- 60-year-old Aurora man calls 911 to report fatally shooting his wife News A 60-year-old Aurora man was arrested on charges of first-degree murder Sunday after calling 911 to report that he had fatally shot his wife. Phil Atchue told Aurora Police on Sunday night that he shot his common-law wife in their apartment in the 900 block of South Ivory Circle, according…
- Ex-US Attorney Fears Supreme Court Will Greenlight Trump’s “Totally Bogue Assertion” News According to a new report from The New York Times, the U.S. Department of Justice is considering criminal charges against election officials whom the Trump administration deems as not sufficiently safeguarding their computer systems, including voting machines. [Note: President Donald Trump, who has long maintained that the 2020 presidential election…
- Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Won’t Have Enough Assets for Civil Case Judgments, Former Prosecutor Says Entertainment <p id="par-1_80">Following months of mounting legal troubles and public scrutiny, <a href="https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/hip-hop/?swcfpc=1">hip-hop</a> mogul <a href="https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/sean-diddy-combs-verdict-guilty.html/">Sean “Diddy” Combs recently faced a significant legal turning point</a> with a verdict that has only intensified the spotlight on his actions. While he was acquitted of several serious charges, Combs still finds himself entangled in…
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)