Scant evidence in Mississippi ricin case, attorney says

Fox\AP ^ | 4-20-13

[WKB]

Federal authorities have scant evidence linking a Mississippi man to the mailing of ricin-laced letters to the president and a senator, his attorney says.

Christi McCoy said after a court hearing Friday that the government has offered no evidence to prove her client, Paul Kevin Curtis, had possession of any ricin or the seed from which it is extracted -- castor beans. An FBI agent testified during the hearing that he could not say if investigators had found ricin at Curtis' home, and McCoy said the evidence linking the 45-year-old to the crime so far has hinged on his writings posted online.

[WKB]

Mississippi ping

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Claire “Tax Evader” McCaskill said the guy mailed a LOT of letters to elected officials. I think that he just pissed people off, and they decided to gin something up to get rid of him. They were probably planning on getting to kill him while they arrested him.

[Sacajaweau]

The guy has been well advertised around town as the village idiot and he has written the same thing in the past. Hell....I could have written the text if I lived in that Town.

You should be able to match his handwriting...Apparently, they can't even do that. How inept can you get??

[vetvetdoug]

The area of NE Mississippi where Curtis lives is noted for criminal activity and dishonest politicians. The Stanford Ponzi, The Marty Frankel embezzlement, and the history of the State Line Mob all have or had major players involved from this area. For a population of fewer than 30K it makes one think about the integrity of the locals.

[onyx]

I’ve been pondering how that idiot could have gotten a hold of the poison and then, why in the heck he would be so damn stupid to send it when he left such an easy trail back to himself?

[bitterohiogunclinger]

“How inept can you get?”
This current bunch of bozo’s make that a difficult question to answer.
I find it odd that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 we had a week long spree of anthrax letters. That case has never been satisfactorily solved, in spite of claims to the contrary.
The day after the marathon bombings, now we have “ricin”.
I suspect a false flag operation trying to divert attention away from either outright incompetence or a cover up to divert attention from Obamas coddling of the money man behind the bombings.
No tin foil hat needed.

[Tupelo]

BINGO!!!!

I think you are closer to the truth than even you know.

[WKB]

I wondered why the called him an Elvis imitator. :>)

[Sherman Logan]

Also, ricin must be injected or ingested to have any effect.

Sending it in a letter is highly unlikely to do any damage at all. Unless I guess somebody decides to eat the letter.

[onyx]

ROTFL.

And that pic of him was a real doozie.

[bmwcyle]

Guilty

[duffee]

Is Christi McCoy by any chance related to former Mississippi House Speaker Billy McCoy (d)? I did see a photo of Curtis with his bumper sticker that said he was proud to be an Evangelical and a democrat.

[The Great RJ]

Ricin is tightly controlled and isn’t something you buy at a hardware store or brew up in your basement. So where did this Elvis impersonator get it???

[WKB]

Sounds like she would fit right in:
http://www.mainjustice.com/tag/christi-mccoy/

Posts Tagged ‘Christi McCoy’
U.S. Attorney in Mississippi to Leave Office Jan. 31
Friday, January 22nd, 2010

U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee on Wednesday announced he will retire as the top federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Mississippi on Jan. 31, The Associated Press reports. The Bush holdover has been the district’s U.S. Attorney since 2001.

Over the weekend, we reported that Greenlee would be leaving his post soon, as Gina Phillips Kilgore, chief deputy for operations at the U.S. District Court in Oxford, Miss., sent out an e-mail titled “Jim Greenlee Retirement Reception.” A copy of the email was forwarded to The Daily Journal of Mississippi.

President Obama has yet to nominate a replacement for Greenlee. Oxford-based defense lawyer Christi McCoy has been under consideration for the job, but we reported last month that her candidacy stalled over questions about her affiliation with a private investigator under investigation for allegedly padding his bills.

Mississippi lawyers have told us Greenlee wrote a letter to the Justice Department about McCoy’s ties to the private investigator, but Greenlee’s office has declined to say whether such a letter exists. Main Justice submitted a Freedom of Information Act request in November asking for a copy of any letter, if it exists.

McCoy was recommended for the U.S. Attorney post by Mississippi Reps. Bennie Thompson and Travis Childers, both Democrats.

McCoy once worked at the law firm of Joey Langston — who pleaded guilty to conspiring with Scruggs to bribe a judge. She also represented former state auditor Steve Patterson, who pleaded guilty in another Scruggs-related judicial bribery case.

[vetvetdoug]

Your post illuminates to what I was referring in a previous post.

[Huebolt]

I’ve been pondering how that idiot could have gotten a hold of the poison and then, why in the heck he would be so damn stupid to send it when he left such an easy trail back to himself?

Ricin IS RARELY fatal unless one gets it directly INTO THE BLOODSTREAM...

The Russians used a tiny hollow metal sphere loaded with it. An umbrella with a point was the delivery system. A bump on a crowded street and bingo. Just putting in a letter is essentially harmless.

Ricin in the blood will make one's liver look like it had been through a blender.

As everyone knows, it is found in a very, very common ornamental plant in the United States, the castor bean.

[onyx]

No, everyone doesn’t know it’s found in the castor bean.

I didn’t.

[MamaB]

I read a lot-have over 200 books on my iPad-and I read that years ago. I do not know how it is made though. Don’t want to know.

[SuziQ]

The media was pushing this ricin notion all week, but I hear a news report the other night in which the reporter said they actually didn’t have any proof that it was ricin. So what exactly was it, and who first put out the idea that it was ricin?