Man Apparently Poisons Himself Following Arson Conviction

This has Agatha Christie's influence all over it. Michael Marin fell on financial hard times a few years back. His house caught ablaze and he told investigators that he barely escaped with his life. However, investigators found evidence of arson and he eventually ended up getting convicted of arson and sentenced to 15.75 years in prison.

This is where it gets interesting:

Moments after attorney Michael Marin was pronounced guilty of arson in Maricopa County Superior Court on Thursday, the one-time high roller went into convulsions and collapsed.

By the time paramedics got him to the hospital, he was dead.

Investigators suspect he poisoned himself rather than face a possible 15 3/4 years in prison. Video of the sentencing shot by a television pool photographer appears to show Marin putting something in his mouth in the seconds after the verdict was read...

All eyes were on the court clerk as she read the verdict on a single count. Then the jury left the room so that Cohen and the attorneys could set the ground rules for the ensuing hearing about whether there were aggravating factors that could result in a harsher sentence for Marin.

What video later revealed is that seconds after the verdict was read, Marin rubbed his cupped hands across his face with an expression of dismay. His mouth seemed to open beneath the hands and it appeared as if he swallowed something. Then he took a sports-drink bottle from a briefcase and drank from it.

I could totally see this happening in a "Poirot" or "Marple" book, though usually their suicides happen before they make it to trial.