Ricin Suspect Set to Appear in Court Today

OXFORD, Miss. – James Everett Dutschke is set to appear in federal court in Oxford later today for a preliminary and detention hearing in that ricin case.  Investigators say he sent those poison laced letters to the President, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss), and a Lee County judge.

Paul Kevin Curtis had earlier been arrested, but charges against him were dropped after FBI agents found no trace of ricin at his home.  Curtis says Dutschke framed him for the attack.

Investigators searched Dutschke’s home and a business and arrested him Saturday.  An FBI affidavit says tests found traces of ricin in Dutchke’s former martial arts studio.

Dutschke and Curtis apparently had been in an ongoing neighborhood dispute.  Dutschke has been in jail without bond since his arrest.