Almost two months after the passing of Philadelphia battle rapper Tech 9, the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office has determined the cause of death as a suicide.
Tech 9, real name Akhiym Mickens, died on March 24th and the cause of his death has been unclear until recently. According to PhillyMag, the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office determined Mickens committed suicide by an overdose of diphenhydramine, an antihistamine found in Benadryl.
Mickens was due in court the next day, March 25, to be arraigned on child pornography charges; however, the news of his court date and charges had not been released at the time of his passing. Mickens’ charges were first reported one week after an organized vigil in his honor in Germantown.
Tech 9 was arrested in early January and charged with unlawful sexual contact with a minor, indecent assault, corruption of minors, harassment, possession of child pornography, and other offenses during an altercation involving his girlfriend’s daughter. He was released on a $50,000 bond two days later.
A judge dropped the indecent assault charges during a preliminary hearing on March 12th, and Mickens was ordered to stand trial for the rest of his charges.
Tech 9’s court-appointed lawyer, Cowanis L. Duckett, said he believed the accusations were “some kind of retaliation” against his client. “Circumstances surrounding the timing of the actual accusation seem to me to be an act of retaliation rather than… an actual incident that happened,” Duckett told PhillyVoice.
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