A Texas man who died soon after ingesting a liquid upon hearing a guilty verdict for child sex abuse charges in August had consumed sodium nitrate, according to a report.
The death of 57-year-old Edward Leclair was ruled a suicide that resulted from the lethal consumption of sodium nitrate, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office informed the Daily Mail.
At the time, the Denton Record-Chronicle noted that it had been unsuccessful in reaching out to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office for comment.
“Leclair, a former Navy mechanic and corporate recruiter, was indicted two years ago on five counts of sexual assault on a person between the age of 14 and 17,” NBC News reported.
In August, Breitbart News explained how a prosecutor in the case recalled the strange scene playing out in court:
According to First Assistant Attorney Jamie Beck of the Denton County District Attorney’s Office, the jury entered, sat down, and the defendant and his counsel stood up.
Moments later, Judge Lee Gabriel began reading the verdict which said Leclair was guilty on all counts.
“It’s during this process that he had a bottle of water with him at the counsel table, and he chugged it,” Beck recalled, adding, “It wasn’t like he was just taking sips of water. He was literally throwing it back, so to speak.”
He had not taken a sip of the substance until the verdict, according to Beck.
Leclair was later moved to a nearby holding cell while the attorneys met to schedule the sentencing proceedings, per the Record-Chronicle. Aware of Leclair’s strange behavior vis-a-vis the water bottle, court officials decided to check on the newly convicted man – only to find him “very much either dead or dying,” according to Beck, as reported by the Record-Chronicle.
“After EMS transported him, I saw him being taken out on the gurney,” Leclair’s attorney Mike Howard reportedly said. “His color and pallor didn’t look good — gray — and then he was taken to the hospital. Beyond that, that’s all I can say.”
Citing Denton County Jail records, WFAA reported that Leclair committed his crimes in “June and July of 2016.” The outlet also noted that he was arrested in 2018.