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Ricin suspect released, all charges dropped; lawyers say he was framed

by Jeff Amy and Emily Wagster Pettus

TUPELO, Miss. -- Charges were dropped Tuesday against the Mississippi man accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and others, while authorities searched at another man's home in connection with the case.

The surprising move was announced in a brief document filed in federal court in Oxford hours after Paul Kevin Curtis was released from custody. The charges were dismissed without prejudice, which means they could be re-instated if prosecutors so choose.

Attorneys for Curtis have suggested he was framed, and an FBI agent testified in court this week that no evidence of ricin was found in searches of his home. At a news conference Tuesday, they declined to discuss whether they were told what new information the government had uncovered.

Prosecutors couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

In Tupelo, numerous law enforcement officers converged on the home of another Mississippi man, including some in hazmat suits.

Everett Dutschke (DUHST'-kee) said in a phone interview with The Associated Press that the FBI was at his Tupelo home Tuesday for the search connected to the mailing of poisoned letters to Obama, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi and a state judge. Dutschke said his house was also searched last week.

Dutschke has maintained his innocence and says he doesn't know anything about the ingredients for ricin. He said agents asked him about Curtis, whether Dutschke would take a lie detector test and if he had ever bought castor beans, which can be used to make the potent poison.

"I'm a patriotic American. I don't have any grudges against anybody. I did not send the letters," said Dutschke, who hasn't been arrested or charged.

The day's events began when the third day of a preliminary and detention hearing was cancelled without officials explaining the change. Within two hours, Curtis had been released, though it wasn't clear why at first. A lawyer later said he was released on bond.

Through his lawyers, Curtis has denied involvement in the letters.

"The searches are concluded, not one single shred of evidence was found to indicate Kevin could have done this," Defense lawyer Christi McCoy told reporters after a hearing Monday.

McCoy said in court that someone may have framed Curtis. She questioned why Curtis would have signed the letters "I am KC and I approve this message," a phrase he had used on his Facebook page.

FBI Agent Brandon Grant said in court on Monday that searches last week of Curtis' vehicle and house in Corinth, Miss., found no ricin, ingredients for the poison, or devices used to make it. A search of Curtis' computers found no evidence he researched making ricin. Authorities produced no other physical evidence at the hearings tying Curtis to the letters.

Curtis was arrested last Wednesday at his house in Corinth, Miss. The first of the letters was found two days earlier.

Grant testified Friday that authorities tried to track down the sender of the letters by using a list of Wicker's constituents with the initials KC, the same initials in the letters. Grant said the list was whittled from thousands to about 100 when investigators isolated the ones who lived in an area that would have a Memphis, Tenn., postmark, which includes many places in north Mississippi. He said Wicker's staff recognized Curtis as someone who had written the senator before.

All the envelopes and stamps were self-adhesive, Grant said Monday, meaning they won't yield DNA evidence. He said thus far the envelopes and letters haven't yielded any fingerprints.

On Tuesday, people in hazmat suits were seen going in and out of Dutschke's house on a quiet block in Tupelo. Investigators from the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Capitol Police were seen outside the house. Dutschke said he counted at least 30 law enforcement agents.

Dutschke said his attorney wasn't with him and he didn't know whether he was going to be arrested.

Dutschke said that he knows Curtis but that the two had a falling out. Dutschke said the last contact they had was in 2010 when Dutschke threatened to sue Curtis for saying he was a member of Mensa, a membership group for people with high IQs.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_23088227/ricin-suspect-released-no-trace-poison-found-mans

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LAPD hosting Van Nuys gun buyback May 4

by Eric Hartley

The city of Los Angeles will host four anonymous gun buybacks, including one in Van Nuys, on May 4.

People who drop off guns anonymously will get Ralphs gift cards for up to $100 for handguns, rifles and shotguns and up to $200 for what the state classifies as "assault weapons."

The city said the buybacks have taken in nearly 10,000 guns since 2009. Critics have questioned whether they make the city safer, as many of the guns turned in are old or unwanted, not those likely to be used in crimes.

The buybacks are usually in May around Mother's Day, but the city held two simultaneous ones Dec. 26 in response to the Connecticut school shooting. More than 1,500 guns were collected that day.

All four will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and police say people should bring guns unloaded and in the trunks of their cars. Officers will secure them and hand out gift cards without people even having to get out of their cars.

The Van Nuys event will be at the Masonic Lodge, 14750 Sherman Way.

There will be one at the Los Angeles Fire Department's training academy near Dodger Stadium, 1700 Stadium Way.

And there will be two others in South L.A., one at Bethel AME Church at 7900 S. Western Ave. and one at the Park and Ride lot at 1300 W. Pacific Coast Highway in Wilmington.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_23086398/lapd-hosting-van-nuys-gun-buyback-may-4

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Drivers not safer with voice-activated texting, study finds

by Ashley Halsey III

It had appeared that technology might have solved a problem of its own creation when voice-activated texting came along so that drivers could keep their eyes on the road. Not so, says the first major study of the subject.

It's every bit as dangerous to speak into a mobile device that translates words into a text message as it is to type one.

"It didn't really matter which texting method you were using, your reaction times were twice as slow and your eyes were on the road much less often," said Christine Yager, who did the research for the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University.

With Americans swapping 6.1 billion text messages every day, several mobile-application developers came up with voice-to-text software. Yager tested two developed for the popular iPhone and Android devices as drivers performed tests on a closed course.

"We were using a tracker, measuring how often they looked at the roadway and how long it took the driver to complete each text-messaging task that we asked them to do, and we also were looking at how long it took them to respond to that light that turned on periodically," she said.

The finding: Voice-to-text applications "do not increase driver safety compared to manual texting."

"We aren't surprised," said Jonathan Adkins, deputy executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association. "Anything that takes the driver's concentration away from driving is a potential distraction. Our message to drivers is to hold off on sending a text until the car is parked."

Using a hand-held device to tap out a text message while driving has been banned in the District of Columbia and 39 states, including Virginia and Maryland. The District of Columbia, Maryland and nine other states also prohibit use of hand-held devices for almost all purposes.

In a survey released this year, almost 35 percent of drivers told the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety that they had recently read text messages or e-mail while driving, and 26 percent said they had sent a text message.

About 3,300 people a year die in crashes attributed to distracted driving, with 387,000 more injured in 2011, federal data show.

For the study, Yager recruited people who were familiar with sending and receiving texts, and some of them already were using voice-to-text applications.

"One of the common comments was that they felt an inclination to look down at the screen to see if it heard them correctly, so that could be one possible explanation of why they were not looking at the roadway more frequently," Yager said.

She said drivers said they felt safer when using voice-activated texting than when entering messages on a keyboard.

"Perhaps it is because they view it as safer and therefore it must be, but still they have this inclination to look down at the screen," she said. "We found that their driving performance suffered equally with both methods."

As has been proven in studies of cellphone conversations, Yager said drivers engaged in any form of texting were distracted by the communication effort.

"Whether you're talking on the cellphone, whether you're trying to send a message, whether you're typing it with your hand, speaking it, driving is not a simple, mindless task," she said. "So any of these types of activities that are not about driving have the potential of seriously taking your mind off what you're doing in operating that vehicle."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_23086894/drivers-not-safer-voice-activated-texting-study-finds

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