Edward LeClair has died after drinking a cloudy liquid in court. He was found guilty of sexually assaulting a child. The 57-year-old man was on trial for five counts of sexual abuse. He was free on bond until the verdict on August 11.
WFAA says that LeClair started drinking the liquid as Judge Lee Gabriel, who was filling in for Judge Sherry Shipmanin in the 16th District Court in Denton, was reading out his verdict. As soon as he was found guilty of the first of five counts of child sexual assault against one victim, which happened in 2016, the convicted pedophile picked up the bottle and drank the liquid from it. Jamie Beck, a deputy district attorney in Denton County, told CNN, “As the judges read the verdicts, he drank a bottle of water from the counsel table.” He also said, when talking about the liquid that looked cloudy, “Our investigator saw him drink the water quickly. He told the bailiff that he might want to go see how he was doing. It was the bailiff. In the holding cell, he was asleep.” Mike Howard, LeClair’s defense lawyer, told NY Post, “He started throwing up soon after he got into the holdover cell, and emergency services were called.”
LeClair was arrested in 2018 and given emergency medical care by Denton County Sheriff’s deputies. His bond was set at $30,000. Joe said that LeClair’s lawyer said, “I saw him being taken out on a gurney after EMS took him away. Gray was not a good color and tone, so he was taken to the hospital. I don’t know what else to say.” “We’ve had people pass out, have heart attacks, and a shooting, but nothing like this has ever happened in my 27 years,” Beck said.
CNN said that preliminary records from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office showed that the convicted person was pronounced dead at the Medical City Denton hospital at 3:21 p.m. on August 11. But an autopsy is being done right now, and the cause of death is still not known.
NBC says that LeClair, a former Navy mechanic and corporate recruiter, was charged with five counts of sexual assault on a person between the ages of 14 and 17. He said that the charges were false. But Howard, the defense lawyer, said, “If they find a defendant guilty of these charges, he or she could get a very harsh sentence.”