Video: US man on trial for raping 10-yr-old jumps from court's balcony, dies

Ohio: A 48-year-old American man accused of raping a teenage girl repeatedly and killing her, jumped to his death from the fourth-floor courthouse balcony before facing trial.

According to a report in Daily Mail, the accused, Robert Seman Jr, had been under trail for raping a 10-year-old repeatedly and killing her along with her grandparents in 2015, by torching their home.

Subsequently, while heading for the trial in the courthouse balcony accompanied by two officers, Seman jumped off from the fourth floor of Mahoning Courthouse on Monday.

Seman was set for a death penalty trial this week in Youngstown, Ohio.

Being accused of heinous crime, Seman had worn a leg brace to stop him from running, but was otherwise unrestrained because courts don't want people on trial to be seen wearing restraining devices, said the report.

Footage reveals how within seconds, Seman climbed the balcony wall and jumped off, hurling himself over a railing after leaving the courtroom.

The clip of Seman jumping off the balcony’s railing reveals that initially he was seen walking out of the courtroom with two officers.

However, the officers, who had no inkling of Seman’s intentions, were walking ahead. Seman slowed down, took three steps to his right and threw himself over the low railing.

Rushing to the railing, the officers tried to save him but he was gone, the clip showed.

The officers then quickly made their way downstairs. People were seen emerging from the courtroom at the same time.

The eye-witness, a Youngstown reporter from a newspaper called the Vindicator, said the 48-year-old's body was covered by a white sheet inside a marble rotunda, but his arms were visible as they were sticking out.

Seman faced the death penalty if convicted of murder charges in the March 2015 deaths of 10-year-old Corrine Gump, 63-year-old William Schmidt and 61-year-old Judith Schmidt.

The rapes he was accused of took place over a number of years while Seman was dating Corrine's mother, Lynn Schmidt.