You may recall the case of geneticist Robert Farrell, who had been initially charged with bioterroism for sharing generally-harmless strains of bacteria with a colleague, SUNY-Buffalo art professor Steven Kurtz. Farrell plead guilty to a reduced charge last fall and received a fine and probation. Now the verdict is in for Kurtz; more after the jump.
A federal judge on Monday (April 21) dismissed the case against Steven Kurtz, an art professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, saying that the government indictment against him "is insufficient on its face," The Buffalo News reported.Richard Ebright, a microbiologist at Rutgers University, wrote in an E-mail to The Scientist: "Dismissal was the correct action. The case had no substance. None."
So good news for now, but the Justice Department can still appeal the judge's ruling.
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I'm going to have to stop carrying E.Coli onto a plane in my gut, even if I have a note from my doctor. Or art director.
Posted by: vjb | April 24, 2008 3:54 PM
If I may become a bit colloquial, these people don't have the common sense the good lord gave a turnip.
Posted by: vjb | April 24, 2008 3:57 PM
Pled or pleaded, please, for the past tense or participle. Plead rhymes with seed.
Posted by: JakeR | April 25, 2008 7:03 PM
Uh-oh, I think I may have some bacteria on my hand. I'd better keep it hidden from the feds, otherwise they'll have to confiscate it and quarantine my apartment.
This is actually the first I've heard of this. I only live an hour away from Buffalo. Frankly, I'm a bit terrified at how powerful and incompetent the FBI is.
Posted by: Scott | April 30, 2008 5:27 PM
This is terrible news. Scott, you are right.
Posted by: Ersen ERDAL | May 6, 2008 9:17 AM
I fail to see how an ART professor is a colleague of a geneticist. I can see how they are both instructors at a Univerisity, but colleagues, peers maybe, friends yes, aquaintences probably, but colleagues, doubt it. The question I want to know is, What the heck can an arty-farty guy do with anything bacterial. Is it some sort of Jackson Pollack sort of thing?.
Posted by: Mike | May 26, 2008 8:11 PM