A medical examiner has confirmed that Edward Peter Leclair took a lethal amount of sodium nitrite into his bottled water and drank it, choosing death instead of prison time.
Texas Man Killed Himself In Court After Found Guilty For Sex Crimes (PHOTO: VT)
Man Took His Own Life In Courtroom
On August 11, 2022, Edward Leclair 57-year-old had been on trial in Texas and found guilty over five counts of child sexual assault against one victim a young girl that he’d raped five times from 2016 to 2018. The child was aged between 13 and 17 at the time when Leclair raped her. As the judge was reading his verdict, Leclair, drink his water bottle containing a cloudy liquid. Leclair collapsed in his cell and passed away shortly after he was escorted in.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office informed that Leclair’s death had been ruled a suicide and that the liquid in the bottle was found to contain sodium nitrite. The National Library of Medicine has explained that sodium nitrate is an odorless powder that is usually used for metals as well as in the conservation of meats. When in the human body it can limit oxygen delivery and transport ingesting it can often cause hypoxia, an altered state of consciousness, cyanosis, and worst death.
Edward Leclair Took Sodium Nitrite
Denton County Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck told CNN that the investigator noticed him chug the bottle of water and the liquid had looked cloudy. Jamie told the bailiff to check Leclair. Moreover, shortly after Leclair entered the holdover cell he was unconscious and started vomiting.
A CCTV footage from inside the Denton County Court shows Leclair purchasing a bottle of water from a vending machine outside court at 07:00 AM on the day of his hearing. Prosecutors believe that Leclair had placed the toxic powder in his water bottle while the jury deliberated for three and a half hours. His lawyer Mike Howard said that his client was facing 100 years in prison and had made a last-minute decision to die by suicide when he realized the severity of his crimes.
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