Footage captured chilling moment man swallowed poison in court seconds after being found guilty
Chelsea Connor
Featured Image Credit: ABC 15
Warning: Article contains mentions of death and suicide
Chilling footage caught in an Arizona courtroom shows a Wall Street Trader swallow poison after being sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Michael Marin, a former financer and ex-Wall Street trader, collapsed and died in a Phoenix courtroom after the judge sentenced him to time behind bars for insurance fraud.
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The guilty verdict came after firefighters attended a fire at a building owned by Marin back in 2011, which was purchased for $3.5 million.
Marin had managed to escape the fire by climbing down the fire escape, but firefighters on scene determined the fire actually started from four separate flames that were lit in different corners of the room.
It was believed the fire was started on purpose as way for Marin to make an insurance claim on the house, resulting in the 53-year-old being found guilty of arson and facing up to 16 years in prison.
Footage taken by Arizona TV caught the moment Marin waited to be handed his verdict on June 28, 2012, as he heard he faced up to 16 years in prison.
After he was found guilty, Marin could be seeing lifting his hands to his face and discreetly slipping something into his mouth, while continuing to hide behind his hands.
After a few minutes, he collapsed and started to convulse as people in the courtroom scrambled to save him. Despite their efforts, Marin never regained consciousness and was later pronounced dead at hospital.
As an investigation began, Marin's death was confirmed by autopsy as a suicide.
It's believed Marin ingested cyanide in the courtroom as detectives found a gas canister of sodium cyanide in his car.
"We assume that Marin made capsules out of this toxic substance before coming to court," a spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also stated that Marin had recently bought the chemical, which can be used in agriculture, online.
Suspicions of if this was a definite suicide have been were confirmed further after a spokesperson revealed that Michael's son received a delayed email from his late father telling him telling him that if things don't go good in court, Marin's wills were in place and his car could be found at a Mesa location.
Although Marin attempted to bank in on insurance money, to the outside world he seemed to live a life of glamour and luxury as he splashed money on a Picasso sketches, a Rolls Royce, flew his own plane and climbed eight of the highest summits in the world, including Mount Everest.
However, he fell into huge debt after purchasing a huge house back in 2008, and is said to believe that arson would have sorted the financial nightmare.