The China Post
Date: June 17, 2016
By: CNA
TAIPEI–An American man died Thursday after slashing himself in the neck on hearing that he had
The bloodied floor of a district court room in Changhua County is seen in this photo taken on Thursday, June 17. An American man died Thursday after slashing himself in the neck on hearing that he had been given a four-year prison sentence for narcotics possession by the court.
(CNA)
been given a four-year prison sentence for narcotics possession by a district court in Changhua County.
The man, identified as Tyrel Martin Marhanka, was pronounced dead at a hospital despite attempts to save his life.
He was 41 and is survived by a wife and two children.
Marhanka was indicted in March after he was arrested last April for growing opium poppies and cannabis in Changhua.
According to an investigation by Changhua district prosecutors, he began to grow opium poppies at a rented place in Changhua’s Yongjing Township in February 2015 after bringing 800 opium poppy seeds into Taiwan from the United States in 2011.
Before that, he had begun to grow cannabis at another rented place in April 2013, using seeds he bought online from a British website, prosecutors said.
After his arrest, Marhanka claimed he was growing the illegal plants for his own consumption and did not sell them for profit.
He was sentenced to four years in jail by the Changhua District Court Thursday. [FULL STORY]
