The court trial of an American national, who allegedly provided cyanide to a British man who later committed suicide, has been rescheduled. The defendant has pleaded guilty to the federal charges pressed against him in connection to the death.
According to Fox News, Sidney Kilmartin will appear in court on the new schedule in October. He was initially due to stand trial next month; however, it was changed to accommodate a new lawyer. Kilmartin was charged of mailing injurious articles resulting in death, as well as wire fraud, mail fraud, witness tampering and witness retaliation.
Federal investigators said the defendant from Maine advertised cyanide for sale; however it is claimed that Kilmartin was actually scamming customers by posting out harmless Epsom salts. He only sent cyanide to the victim, Andrew Denton, of Hull, England.
Prosecutors allege Kilmartin of sending it in order to prevent him from exposing his fraud. Denton eventually took his own life using the said cyanide. Kilmartin entered a not guilty plea to the federal charges in January, the Guardian reported.
The 49-year-old British man and the defendant, 53, were communicating each other through an online suicide chatroom, according to the Daily Mail. Denton committed suicide on his Hull home in East Yorkshire on December 2012, while Kilmartin was arrested in 2014.
It was reported that Denton had a history of suicide attempts. His death was ruled a suicide by cyanide poisoning, according to court documents. His body was discovered by a relative on the said home. The defendant was living in the community but was legally in the custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services when he allegedly mailed cyanide to Denton.
Kilmartin faces life in prison on the counts related to Denton's death and up to 20 years in prison on other counts.
