An American man fatally stabbed himself with a pair of scissors in a Taiwan courtroom Thursday during his sentencing on drug possession charges, raising questions over security failings. 
 
 The man, named as 41-year-old Tyrel Martin Marhanka, is thought to have hidden the dismantled scissors inside a magazine to get past a metal detecting door, Changhua district court said. 
 
 The court vowed to beef up its security control by adding two X-ray scanners when it moves to a new building. 
 
 There is not enough room for the scanners at its current facility, it said. 
 
 When the judge handed down a four-year prison sentence for smuggling poppy and marijuana seeds and for growing marijuana, Marhanka stabbed himself in the neck before bailiffs could stop him. 
 
 He was rushed to a hospital but emergency treatment failed to revive him. 
 
 "We deeply regret that Tyrel Martin Marhanka killed himself during the sentencing," the court said in a statement. 
 
 "He was cooperative during the investigation and the trial. His attitude was mild and he did not show any signs that he would commit suicide." 
 
 Marhanka was married to a Taiwanese woman with two children and had been living on the island for many years, according to the court. ||||| By the time authorities noticed that Tyrel Martin Marhanka had a sharp metal object in his hands, it was too late. 
 
 The 41-year-old American — who was sitting in a courtroom in Taiwan during his sentencing on drug possession charges — plunged the object deep into his neck, unleashing a gush of blood, according to the Taipei Times. 
 
 Some witnesses identified the object as a pair of scissors, but others said they saw Marhanka using two objects, both metallic. Court officials told the Times that the American separated a pair of scissors into two sharp blades. 
 
 [A sheriff’s sergeant was arrested for child porn. He killed himself after spending six nights in jail.] 
 
 The shocking act occurred moments after a judge gave Marhanka a four-year prison sentence for smuggling poppy seeds into the country and growing marijuana, according to the paper. 
 
 Marhanka was arrested in April 2015 after police discovered a large stash of illegal drugs at a rented house, which included hundreds of cannabis plants and 10 opium poppies, according to the Times. 
 
 He told police the plants were a "hobby" that he intended to use on his own, the paper reported. 
 
 Witnesses told the Times that, after the judge read the sentence out loud, Marhanka turned to the interpreter, who informed him of the sentence. 
 
 “Four years?” a shocked Marhanka was heard saying. 
 
 Witnesses told the paper that the interpreter explained to Marhanka that the sentence could be appealed, but Marhanka said he didn't want to do so. 
 
 “I don’t want to live anymore,” he yelled, before stabbing himself in the neck and severing at least one artery, witnesses told the Times. He was taken to a hospital, but doctors were unable to revive him, according to Agence France-Presse. 
 
 ['Please don’t. Stop. I'm scared': A victim’s last words as two teenage girls beat her to death] 
 
 “We deeply regret that Tyrel Martin Marhanka killed himself during the sentencing,” the court said in a statement, according to the AFP report. "He was cooperative during the investigation and the trial. His attitude was mild and he did not show any signs that he would commit suicide.” 
 
 Marhanka was married to a Taiwanese woman and had two children, and they were longtime residents of the island, AFP reported. 
 
 Court officials told the Times that they plan to improve security by installing an X-ray machine that will be used to scan people before they enter a building. The court's current facility, AFP reported, lacks adequate space for the equipment. 
 
 MORE READING: 
 
 South Africa is divided over graphic photos of Oscar Pistorius’s dead girlfriend 
 
 Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death 
 
 Palestinians say man detained by Israel as a terrorist is actually a circus clown ||||| By Jason Pan / Staff reporter 
 
 An American man killed himself by cutting his neck in a courtroom in Changhua County yesterday morning, after being convicted of possession of marijuana and sentenced to four years in prison. 
 
 The man — identified as 41-year-old US citizen Tyrel Martin Marhanka — was rushed to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. 
 
 According to witnesses, after the Changhua District Court judge read his ruling, Marhanka turned to the translator, who told him the sentence, before Marhanka was heard saying: “Four years?” 
 
 The translator told Marhanka that he could appeal the decision, but he replied: “I don’t want to appeal.” 
 
 Becoming agitated, he yelled: “I don’t want to live anymore,” took out two metal objects, and with one in each hand stabbed himself on both sides of the neck, severing the arteries, which gushed blood, according to witnesses. 
 
 Court officials said Marhanka had smuggled in a pair of 21cm scissors, which he had separated into two sharp metal blades. 
 
 Marhanka was arrested in April last year and charged with possession of marijuana and other narcotics, after police found more than 200 cannabis plants, 195 dried cannabis plants and 10 opium poppies at a rented house in Yongjing Township (永靖), Changhua County. 
 
 At the time of his arrest, Marhanka told police officers he grew the plants as a “hobby” and that they were all intended for his own use. 
 
 Marhanka had lived in Taiwan for more than 15 years, and had a Taiwanese wife and two children — a son in second grade and a daughter in kindergarten — court officials said. 
 
 His wife was distraught when notified of the news, and went to the hospital where he had died. 
 
 The district court convened a press conference yesterday afternoon, in which presiding judge Wang Yi-min (王義閔) said the court regretted what happened, and that Marhanka’s family and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) had been contacted through judiciary channels. 
 
 Wang said there was negligence in the incident, adding that the court would improve security measures, including installing an X-ray machine to check on people entering the court’s new building. 
 
 Wang said the bailiffs in the courtroom rushed in to help Marhanka and tried to stop the bleeding, but the incident happened too quickly and they were too late to prevent his death. 
 
 Medics who rushed Marhanka to the local hospital said the victim’s neck had 12cm and 7cm lacerations on the left and right sides respectively. He was still conscious when they arrived at the hospital, but died about 30 minutes later.
– A despondent reaction in a Taiwanese courtroom Thursday morning left a 41-year-old American dead. After he was handed a four-year sentence on a drug conviction, Tyrel Martin Marhanka killed himself, the Washington Post reports. Per the Taipei Times, a judge had just informed Marhanka of his punishment for growing pot and smuggling pot and poppy seeds into Taiwan, and when Marhanka heard how much time he'd be spending behind bars, things got chaotic. "Four years?" he was heard saying to his translator, who tried to assure Marhanka he could appeal. Marhanka didn't want to hear that, yelled, "I don't want to live anymore!," then plunged two sharp metal objects into the sides of his neck, witnesses say. Court officials say it appears Marhanka brought in a pair of scissors by separating the tool into two blades and hiding the pieces inside a magazine to circumvent the building's metal-detecting door, reports AFP. The Times notes that Marhanka severed arteries in his neck, and although court bailiffs tried to stanch the bleeding, it was just too much: Marhanka died about a half-hour after being brought to a local hospital. Marhanka "was cooperative during the investigation and the trial," a court statement reads. "His attitude was mild and he did not show any signs that he would commit suicide." In a Thursday afternoon press conference, the presiding judge admitted the court had been negligent and that security measures would be boosted, including installing at least one X-ray scanner when the court soon moves into a new building. Court officials note that Marhanka had lived in Taiwan since his mid-20s and had a Taiwanese wife, as well as two elementary-school-age children. (A Virginia man took his own life moments after being convicted of killing his wife.)