Millionaire found guilty, kills self in court

[TerryK]

Shocking moment a ruined millionaire collapsed and DIED in court after 'taking pill' as he was found guilty of torching his $3million home

• Michael Marin, 53, held head in his hands at court in Phoenix, Arizona
• Appeared to put something in his mouth and went into convulsions
• Father of four died later in hospital - toxicology tests ordered
• Fire investigators said he had started fire at home in 2009 before escaping down a rope ladder wearing a scuba-diving suit
  

By Louise Boyle

PUBLISHED: 21:48 EST, 28 June 2012 | UPDATED: 14:23 EST, 29 June 2012

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A horrified court room looked on today as a man who had just been convicted of burning down his $3.5 million mansion collapsed and died in front of them.

Michael Marin, 53, was found guilty of arson by a jury in Maricopa County Superior Court. He appeared shocked and closed his eyes as the verdict was read before appearing to put something in his mouth and wash it down with liquid in a plastic water bottle.


In the shocking court room video, he then fell to the floor a few minutes later in convulsions. Mr Marin was taken to a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was pronounced dead.


Last resort: After being found guilty of burning down his own home and facing years in jail, Michael Marin appeared to swallow a substance in the Arizona courtroom




Emergency: The 53-year-old was stretchered out of the court in Phoenix minutes later but died in hospital


When Marin's trial began in May, prosecutors said he could face 16 years in prison if he was convicted.


Marin burned down his Phoenix mansion on July 5, 2009 after it failed to sell at a charity auction.



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Fire Department investigators determined the fire was deliberate after finding several points of origin throughout the sprawling 6,600 sq ft home with four garages.


Marin later told authorities that he had escaped after setting the fire by climbing from the second floor using a rope ladder and wearing a scuba-diving suit, according to[URL="http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/18906980/jury-reaches-verdict-in-marin-trial"]


Distress: Marin, a father of four and a grandfather, faced up to 16 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of arson




Ashen-faced: Marin, a former Wall Street trader, was found guilty of torching his $3.5million mansion because he could not afford the mortgage






No one was injured in the blaze but the charge of committing arson of an occupied structure holds the same number of years in prison in Arizona as second-degree murder.
Prosecutors claimed Marin set fire to his house in desperation because he could no longer pay the mortgage.
Toxicology tests would be carried out on the 53-year-old's body along with the water bottle he drank from.
Marin, a father of four and grandfather of two, attended Yale Law School. He was an ex-Wall Street trader who enjoyed collecting art including Picasso sketches and described himself as a 'careful thrill seeker' to the Phoenix New Times after scaling Mount Everest and trips into the jungles of south-east Asian.





Desperation: Ex-Wall Street trader Michael Marin set up an elaborate arson plan, involving escape with scuba-diving gear, when he could no longer pay the mortgage on his mansion



Destruction: Marin had tried to auction off his mansion in Arizona but had no bidders



Blaze: The ruined millionaire concocted a story of how he had escaped the fire but fire crews found several points of origin pointing to an arson attack


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1zEJQElnY

[Dobbin]

Mr. Marin is notable in life as the number of humans who have made it to the summit of Everest numbers only in the hundreds. He still has a blog page from his 2009 expedition...

http://everestexpedition2009.blogspot.com/

I have bolded the sad parts.

I reached the summit of Everest at dawn on May 20, 2009, just as the very first rays from the rising sun were bathing the highest point on earth with a golden glow and casting the shadow of a perfect pyramid on the high Himalayas. It is nothing short of a miracle that I was blessed with this experience, because I found Everest to be a shockingly dangerous mountain to climb. I am truly amazed that more people don't perish in the attempt to reach its lofty summit. On the way up I took a bad fall on the Hillary Step,which resulted in a series of stress fractures in my right hand. A carabiner I'd clipped in to the fixed rope prevented me from falling further and saved my life. I'm thinking of having it covered in gold leaf. I wasn't about to turn around so close to the summit, broken hand or not, so I got myself back up the Hillary Step and onto the summit ridge right behind our expedition leader Alex Abramov. He was none the wiser until he saw me fumble with my left hand trying to clip in to a fixed rope on the descent. The descent was complicated by my broken hand. Climbing is mostly done with the feet, and maintaining proper balance is critical, and yet the hands are necessary to use safety devices like carabiners, ascenders, and belay/rappel devices. As much as it was a miracle that I reached the summit of Everest, it was even more of a miracle that I was able to descend safely all the way down to Camp II, our advanced base camp. I've never been so utterly and completely exhausted in my life.

I'm typing this with a temporary brace on my right hand. Tomorrow the doctors here in Kathmandu are going to fit a plaster cast. There is so much I'd like to share, but this is a bit of a challenge.

Hopefully I'll be able to elaborate on these themes at greater length when I get a more permanent solution for my hand, but there are three things I'd like to share.

(1) The incredible true story of courage and friendship demonstrated by my friend Noel, who short-roped our friend Patrick down from the summit--as part of Team II they reached the summit one day later than I did as part of Team I--when Patrick temporarily lost his vision, putting his own life at risk to protect Patrick. It took them so long to descend in this way they came down the treacherously steep and icy Lhotse face in the dark. I will forever remember their headlamps shining in the darkness as beacons of true courage and friendship. By his own admission, Noel, from Northern Ireland, is "a wee man," not particularly tall, but in my estimation he is a giant among men. Noel, I'm glad to know you.

(2) The remarkable life-changing spiritual epiphany I experienced on the summit of Everest.

(3) The ordeal of the trek down from Everest base camp to Lukla, where I was able to catch a flight back to Kathmandu. We covered those 60-70 kilometers in three days. I rode a Tibetan pony on the third day from Namche Bazaar to Lukla in the pouring rain, coaxing the sure-footed beast up and down 45-55 degree rock and mud-covered pitches.

More to come, depending on how restrictive the cast is that the doctors here in Kathmandu are going to apply tomorrow.

Posted by Michael Marin at 5:23 AM 4 comments:

Sad. No house is worth one's life. Perhaps Mr. Marin forgot?

Dobbin

[Donald Shimoda]

Howdy, Folks!

He just saved the local taxpayers a bundle as they won't have to feed and house him.


Luckily his firebug stunt didn't spread to other houses and end up destroying large chunks of the neighborhood - or city. Also lucky he didn't end up killing anyone else.


Rich fella who lost it all, and tried to defraud others to support his lifestyle. Bonus - nice example he set for his kids and grandkids.

I'm not gonna lose any sleep over this guy.

[Countrymouse]

Howdy, Folks!

He just saved the local taxpayers a bundle as they won't have to feed and house him.


Luckily his firebug stunt didn't spread to other houses and end up destroying large chunks of the neighborhood - or city. Also lucky he didn't end up killing anyone else.


Rich fella who lost it all, and tried to defraud others to support his lifestyle. Bonus - nice example he set for his kids and grandkids.

I'm not gonna lose any sleep over this guy.

If he HADN'T been a "RICH FELLA who lost it all", would you have been able to find some teensy weensy little place in your heart that still had compassion for a man in desperation?

Hope you're never faced with losing it all, Shimoda.

And if so, hope somebody doesn't treat you in the way you spoke above.

[TerryK]

Well said CM.
Who is it said "When you have nothing left to lose, You lose it"

[Donald Shimoda]

If he HADN'T been a "RICH FELLA who lost it all", would you have been able to find some teensy weensy little place in your heart that still had compassion for a man in desperation?

Hope you're never faced with losing it all, Shimoda.

And if so, hope somebody doesn't treat you in the way you spoke above.

Howdy, Folks!

Wow - talk about sanctimonious... :/


This wasn't a man in desperation - this was someone who was selfish that didn't want to face up to the consequences of his actions.

If he HADN'T been a "RICH FELLA who lost it all" - he wouldn't have been in this situation.

Uh - I have been faced with "losing it all." Been there, did that, got the T-shirt. NOt through screwing anyone over, either - I got screwed by others by being "the nice guy."

Ya know what? Picked myself up, went on.

Oh, and folks treated me a LOT worse when that happened to me - "don't hit a man when he's down, kick him, it's easier."

Difference? I didn't try to defraud anyone when times got tough.


Apples and roofing nails...

[Dobbin]

Apples and roofing nails...

Please! Not to mention those two nouns in the same sentence. Ouch!

Dern kid.

Dobbin

[changed]

"escaped after setting the fire by climbing from the second floor using a rope ladder and wearing a scuba-diving suit," WTF?

[Donald Shimoda]

Please! Not to mention those two nouns in the same sentence. Ouch!

Dern kid.

Dobbin

Howdy, Folks!

Okay - howzabout Apples and Hovercrafts!

[Donald Shimoda]

...

[Donald Shimoda]

"escaped after setting the fire by climbing from the second floor using a rope ladder and wearing a scuba-diving suit," WTF?

Howdy, Folks!

Pretty smart, actually - probably wet himself down, and by doing this he had clean air to breathe so he would not be overcome by the smoke and fumes.


Well thought out and planned.

[Dobbin]

Howdy, Folks!

Okay - howzabout Apples and Hovercrafts!

Sorry. Neighborhood kid (former friend of Owner's Son) fed me an apple spiked with a nail. Resulted in a trip to the Large Animal Clinic up in Dover and stitches to straighten me out. Minor surgery of the oral cavity kind.

HIm (neighborhood boy) spoken to harshly by Owner. Son too. Now you know why nail spiker not a friend anymore.

(Cruel little B*stard)

Back to thread. You said it right Donald. But a little harshly. Better said to his face. Too late for that methinks.

I hear of suicide like this and I think of a study that is somewhere on the 'net about "near death." Report being those that attempt to take their own life - and fail - usually come back changed. Instead of the "tunnel of light" or some other such pleasant vision, they have a vision of foreboding, being at odds, accused, guilt, low self esteem, remorse, regret - and darkness. Maybe a true end?

Dobbin

[TerryK]

Not sanctimonious at all, at least I didn't mean it that way.

When you have it all, it's a much harder and longer fall and the adjustment at the bottom is greater.

So he killed himself. What he did was wrong. A stronger man could have picked himself up and started over, but he wasn't strong enough. I stil feel sorry for him for that.
Sure he was trying to defraud the insurance company. Those who just walked away from their mortgages once they went upside down, even though they could still pay for them were defrauding the banks and in turn all of us. What they did was wrong. I still feel sorry for them if they lost all the years of work and payments for nothing.

How about the people that trash their foreclosed homes, that aint right either.

The guy was a thrill seeker and probably doens't have the social inhibitions most sheeple have.

And congrats to you for having the guts to take the fall and get up and work your way back up, but realize there are a lot of people out there who don't have the internal strenght or smarts to do that.

[Donald Shimoda]

Howdy, Folks!


"Maxed Out"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR2c_K8rbqQ


At 3 minutes, 30 seconds - check out Dave Ramsey. Great bit.

He's still alive, as far as I know...

[Mixin]

His crime wasn't well thought out; fire investigators usually detect points of origin. If he would have considered ahead of time the probability of being caught and spending most of the rest of his life in prison, he may have taken a different way to solve his problems.

The video of him doing this in court is on the net; whatever he took sure would not be my choice for exiting this life. It must have been horrible at the end.

I felt bad for him that he couldn't see any other way out of his problems.

[Flashyzipp]

When you set the value of your worth as a human being in your place in society and in the possessions you own and then you stand to lose them all, I can see why he did this . . .

[Barry Natchitoches]

I don't suppose that this is a significant fact, but I just found out on another website that this guy was once an LDS missionary, back years ago.


Again, I don't think that is significant.


Just interesting.

[Dobbin]

"He pulled hard on life's traces."

Too bad one of them broke.

Dobbin

[Kevmoley]

Rest in Peace, Mr. Marin ..

[Delta]

Wonder what he took. I took Himmler and Goering several minutes to die with cyanide.

[Vicki]

Rest in Peace, Mr. Marin ..

I agree with this. He played the game and lost but in this society and the way things are now, he might as well of been set up. He kind of was set up. I've been saying for awhile now I'm glad I didn't have far to fall.

[FireDance]

Wonder what he took. I took Himmler and Goering several minutes to die with cyanide.

Me too Delta. I wondered about heroin, but that doesn't seem like it would do it unless it was bigger than a cap. ??

Yep, just another portrait of "The All Important Money v. The Insignificant Man." Sheesh.

[Kent]

Wonder what he took. I took Himmler and Goering several minutes to die with cyanide.

My guess would be cyanide. Cellular suffocation. Cyanide binds with the iron in the blood to prevent oxygen transfer at a cellular level.

[The Traveler]

I am just glad that his act of arson didnt kill any firefighters fighting the blaze. You guys know the ones, the ones that you hardly ever see or hear from until you need them. Most of those folks have families too and what would have happened to one of their families had one been killed while fighting this fire this POS started because he was just a useless eater. I am sorry his family has to deal with this but I am not sorry he is dead. Just saying.

[VesperSparrow]

I just watched that documentary called "The Bridge" about Golden Gate Bridge jumpers....puts a hole new perspective (for me) on suicide. That and the fact the director of the video actually filmed people standing around and getting ready to jump but didn't call the cops...

[TerryK]

He actually actually continued to set there for several minutes before he collapsed. Whatever it was worked in 2 -4 minutes

Yes, some people will lie, cheat and steal, but would rather kill themselves than accept dishonor and shame.
At least he was ashamed enough of what he did to kill himself over it.


This man did nothing worse than what a lot of people did with their mortgages.
We just find him easy to hate because he was, for a while at least, well off.