Michael Marin Courtroom Suicide: Yup, That Was Cyanide

A month ago, IQ reported the story of former Wall Street executive Michael Marin, who violently collapsed and suddenly died in court of an apparent suicide. A few weeks later, we reported that a bottle labelled “cyanide” was found in his car.

Yes, that was absolutely a cyanide pill that he swallowed in court leading to his shocking death moments later, according to his autopsy report.

After being found guilty of arson back in June, Marin put his face in his hands and appeared to have swallowed something. He drank from a water bottle, and moments later he began seizing violently, collapsing to his death, according to the Huffington Post. Remember, this was all in a courtroom immediately following his sentencing, and it was all caught on tape. Immediately, the media began speculating as to whether he had committed suicide via poison pill, and the Maricopa County medical examiner’s office toxicology tests prove that theory true. Michael Marin had poison in his system, reports KMOV-4.

Marin was staring down more that 16 years in prison for setting fire to his 10,000-square-foot home on July 5, 2009. The elaborate plot consisted of Marin setting fire in four parts of his home, and escaping from the second floor with a rope ladder, dressed in scuba gear to project him from smoke inhalation. Prosecutors believe that Marin was having financial troubles and couldn’t afford the mortgage payments on his large home, reports CNEWS.

Marin’s adult son alerted authorities to the potential for his father’s suicide, prompting the search or Marin’s car. The son received a delayed email from Marin, saying that his will was in order in case “things don’t go well in court.”

How did Marin smuggle a poison ill into court, you ask? Primarily because he wasn’t in custody. Defendants who aren’t in custody aren’t strip-searched, so it would have been fairly simple for Marin to hide the pill in a pocket or elsewhere.

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