Yahoo Finance Man Convicted Of Child Sexual Assault Drinks Mystery Liquid In Court, Dies
A Texas man convicted of child sexual assault died after he “chugged” a bottle of cloudy liquid in the courtroom after the verdict was read.
Edward Peter Leclair, 57, was found guilty in a Denton County court on Thursday of five counts of sexual assault involving one victim, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported.
Leclair had maintained his innocence in the charges, according to NBC News.
Before the verdict came back, Leclair had kept a large water bottle next to him with what looked like cloudy water, but hadn’t been drinking it, according to the Record-Chronicle. But when the judge began to read the guilty verdict, Leclair began to drink.
“He chugged it,” prosecutor Jamie Beck told local news station WFAA. “It wasn’t like he was just taking sips of water. He was literally throwing it back, so to speak.”
Defense attorney Mike Howard told NBC News that he saw Leclair drinking and noticed his hand was shaking.
“At the time, I thought it was shaking because of the verdict,” Howard said. “Then he kept drinking and drinking.”
After being taken to a holding cell, Leclair “started vomiting” and “emergency services were called,” Howard told CNN. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital before being pronounced dead that afternoon.
An autopsy has been ordered to determine Leclair’s cause of death, and his water bottle has been collected as evidence.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
