12.03.14
Grand jury ham sandwich? Ricin trial for student
What the calling of a grand jury on 24th November in Oshkosh in the case of college student Kyle Allen Smith is hard to determine.
Initially I thought it indicated a slight difference in the trajectory of ricin cases in the US.
Apparently not.
It took a few hours, maybe minutes, maybe a day (the news coverage was very poor and confused) for the judge in the case to declare Smith would stand trial.
From the wire:
a Green Bay federal judge ruled there was enough evidence against 21-year-old Kyle Smith [to try him on a ricin complaint].
Prosecutors say Smith, a senior majoring in biology at UWO, admitted he knew what he was making and shouldn’t have been making it. According to Smith defense attorney William Kerner, Smith never intended to use ricin on humans. Kerner adds that the ricin powder found in Smith’s home was castor bean meal, which is used across the country and falls under different laws and regulations.
The judge ruled Smith would remain in jail. No lab equipment was found in his home, it was said.
In the past there was a decent-sized industry producing castor meal and castor oil, the first for fertilizer and occasionally as ineffective pesticide, the latter for lubrication, in this country.
Accordingly, there was federal regulation 173.955 governing the transport of castor powder.
It is here and shows no particular requirements that would lead one to think it was regarded as a serious hazard.
A recent regulation sheet shows castor to be at the same level of control it was when I first wrote of the matter back in 2008.
And emergency telephone number must be provided on the bill of lading and now, as then, the material was in the same category as this list of transportable commodities:
Battery powered equipment.
Battery powered vehicle.
Carbon dioxide, solid.
Castor bean.
Castor flake.
Castor meal.
Castor pomace.
Consumer commodity.
Dry ice.
Engines, internal combustion.
Fish meal, stabilized.
Fish scrap, stabilized.
Krill Meal, PG III.
Refrigerating machine.
Vehicle, flammable gas powered.
Vehicle, flammable liquid powered.
Wheelchair, electric.