02.16.11
The poor sod, continued
A judge refused bail to Jeffrey B. Levenderis, jailed when a container containing castor powder was found in what had been his refrigerator by a new tenant.
A federal judge said no Wednesday to the release of a man charged with possessing toxic ricin.
The judge ruled that Jeff Boyd Levenderis, 54, of the Akron area, failed to show that the community would be safe if he’s released before trial.
Levenderis was arrested in January after authorities said the deadly poison was found in his former home.
The government says he was trying to prove he could make ricin without killing himself. Levenderis has pleaded not guilty and his attorney says there’s no evidence he meant to harm anyone.
A message seeking comment on the judge’s no-release ruling was left for the defense attorney on Wednesday.
What makes this particularly odd and sad is that no one in the US has died from pounding castor seeds in at least the last fifteen years. It just doesn’t happen. So wherever Levenderis got the ridiculous claim, it was pure braggadocio.
Roger von Bergendorff, a castor seed powder maker, convicted on making ricin, did wind up in the hospital, although it remains unclear whether or not it was actually ricin that put him there.
Also incomprehensible is the claim that the man could not make an argument that he was not a threat. The castor powder containing ricin in the refrigerator had been around for some time, forgotten apparently. It posed no more threat to the community or even the home’s new tenant than a box of rat poison abandoned on a shelf.
The terrible reality in the US is that grinding castor seeds sends you to jail. There are no defense lawyers who can competently explain to judges and/or juries any facts about ricin and castor seeds which might ameliorate judgments.
And they are always over-matched by the federal government.
Judges don’t care. Neither do juries. No mercy is ever shown.
And the result has been that no matter how troubled or helpless the defendant is, their situation is always made immeasurably worse.