Edward LeClair has died after drinking a cloudy liquid in court. He was found guilty of sexually abusing a child. The 57-year-old was on trial for five counts of sexual abuse. He was out on bail pending the Aug. 11 verdict.
WFAA says LeClair began drinking the liquid as Judge Lee Gabriel, representing Judge Sherry Shipmanin in the 16th Circuit Court in Denton, was delivering his sentence. As soon as he was found guilty of the first of five counts of child sexual assault against a victim, which happened in 2016, the convicted pedophile took the bottle and drank the liquid from it. Jamie Beck, an assistant district attorney for Denton County, told CNN, “As the judges read the verdicts, he drank a bottle of water from the attorney’s table.” He also said, speaking about the liquid, which looked cloudy, “Ours Investigators saw him quickly drink the water. He told the bailiff he might want to see how he was doing. It was the bailiff. He was asleep in the holding cell.” Mike Howard, LeClair’s defense attorney, told the NY Post, “Shortly after he got into the holding cell, he started throwing up and emergency services were called.”
LeClair was arrested in 2018 and given emergency medical attention by Denton County Sheriff’s Deputy. His bail was set at $30,000. Joe said that LeClair’s attorney said, “I saw him being taken out on a gurney after paramedics 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, have had a shooting, but in my 27 years, nothing like this has ever happened,” Beck said.
CNN said preliminary records from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office showed the sentenced person was pronounced dead at 3:21 p.m. on Aug. 11 at Medical City Denton Hospital. But an autopsy is being performed and the cause of death is not yet known.
NBC says LeClair, a former Navy mechanic and corporate recruiter, has been charged with five counts of sexually assaulting a person between the ages of 14 and 17. He said the allegations were false. But Howard, the defense attorney, said: “If they find a defendant guilty of these charges, he or she could face a very harsh sentence.”