- The unnamed man had been on trial at the Quentin Burdick Courthouse in Fargo on several stalker-related charges
- When the jury returned a partial guilty verdict on the charges, the man rose to his feet and cut his throat with a ‘plastic shank’
- Despite the efforts of court security and deputy marshals, the man died
- The jury had left the courtroom but the suicide was witnessed by District Judge Peter Welte, courtroom staff and people in the public gallery
A North Dakota man who had just been found guilty of stalking committed suicide in court by slashing his own throat ‘from ear to ear’ Monday.
The unnamed man had been on trial at the Quentin Burdick Courthouse in Fargo on several stalker-related charges.
When the jury returned a partial guilty verdict on the charges, the man rose to his feet and cut his throat with a pen or a plastic shank, Valley News Live reported.
The U.S. Marshals said the jury had left the courtroom at the time of the incident, but U.S. District Judge Peter Welte, courtroom staff and people in the public gallery witnessed the incident.
Security officers and deputy marshals on the scene tried to save his life, but he died at the scene, according to Fox News.
‘The guy turned around and you could see the inside of his neck. He had slit his neck with some object,’ a witness told Valley News Live.
‘One of the other attorneys in there said it looked like a pen, but his attorney said it looked like a scalpel.’
The U.S. Marshals Service confirmed that a person had died in a courtroom at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Fargo.
Baily Hurley, a journalist with Valley News Live, tweeted that the ‘male defendant stood up & slit his throat w/ what looked like a pen or a plastic shank’.
North Dakota U.S. Marshal Dallas Carlson said the FBI was investigating the death.