Steve Parsons
Wow what an awful case! Was he in handcuffs? How come nobody saw him taking the pill? I suppose he couldn't handle going to jail after what he did.
A man decided to end it all after being found guilty of sexual assault of a minor.
The man was convicted of having sex with a teenage girl.
However, before being jailed, he swallowed a cyanide pill in the courtroom.
Court staff and his family, watched in horror as 48-year-old Steve Parsons, of Maryville, Missouri suddenly collapsed in the courtroom. He was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The 48-years-old had been found guilty of statutory s-d-my of a 14-year-old. The jury had reached a guilty verdict after a three-day trial in Maryville, Missouri.
He was facing up to seven years in jail when he decided to impose his own death sentence in front of his family.
Witnesses said that Parsons pretended he was sick. He told court staff: "I'm going to vomit." He approached the clerk's table to get some water. Parsons took a sip of water and returned to his seat.
No one in the court realized that Parsons popped a cyanide pill in his mouth. He suddenly fell and had a seizure.
Court staff tried to help Parsons but he suffered from cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead at Heartland Regional Medical Center.
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