Millionaire dies after arson verdict

CNN's Ed Lavandera retraces the life of Michael Marin. Video captures him in court shortly before he died.

Ex-banker’s courtroom death an apparent suicide

Ed Lavandera, CNN Correspondent

The death last month of a 53-year-old former investment banker who collapsed in an Arizona courtroom, minutes after a jury found him guilty of torching his palatial Phoenix estate, appears to have been a suicide, police said Tuesday.

Michael Marin was facing a sentence of seven to 21 years in prison on June 28 when courtroom video shows that he appeared to put something into his mouth and swallowed. Minutes later, he appeared to put something else into his mouth, and again swallowed. Shortly afterward, he went into convulsions and was taken to Maricopa County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Late Monday or early Tuesday, Marin’s adult son received a delayed e-mail from his father “telling him that if things don’t go good in court, Marin’s wills are in place and his car can be found at a Mesa location,” Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told reporters. The family relayed that information to police, who searched the car’s cargo area and found a canister labeled sodium cyanide, he said.

Investigators determined that Marin had ordered the quick-acting poison – typically used in agriculture and gold mining – from a California-based company and that it was delivered by FedEx to his home in 2011.