(Oxford, MS) The man accused of sending poison laced letters in the mail to three elected officials,including President Obama will stay in jail.
Today, an Oxford federal court judge decided there was probable cause to charge Tupelo martial arts instructor James Everett Dutschke with stockpiling and distributing ricin.
There was one witness during the entire two and a half hour hearing, a FBI agent.
He testified about the link between James Everett Duestske and the deadly poison ricin.
During the federal court hearing, FBI agents say they observed James Dutschke go to his martial arts studio in Tupelo and bring out a box of items and dump them in the trash nearby.
Agents recovered a coffee bean grinder box, latex gloves and a dust mask from the trash.
The mask had traces of ricin on it and lab results returned just today show it also had Dutschke’s DNA on it.
A check of an old computer showed he researched ricin and investigators found eBay and Paypal accounts that show where he ordered and paid for castor beans which are used to produce ricin.
They say he ordered the beans from someone in Tennessee.
The FBI agent also testified that a witness told them that Dutschke had a dislike for the government and Dutschke told him he had secret knowledge of how to take care of them.
The FBI Agent also told the judge Dutschke had an ongoing on-line feud with Kevin Curtis, the Elvis impersonator first arrested but then released in this ricin case.
Dutschke’s lawyer questioned that same FBI agent and the agent couldn’t say if the ricin allegedly sent by Dutchske was in any way lethal or how pure it was.
Dutschke was scheduled to have a detention hearing also today where he could have asked to be released from custody until his trial, but he waived his right to that hearing.
