United States v. Levenderis

Around 2000, at age 44, Levenderis used castor beans and acetone to produce enought ricin to kill 250 people. Levenderis stored it in a can in his freezer until an FBI HAZMAT team removed it in 2011. Levenderis, then ill, told a friend (Coffman), who was watching Levendris’s house, that the can contained ricin. Coffman called the fire department. The FBI visited Levenderis at his nursing home. He described the substance as ant poison and stated that he had been joking about it being ricin. Later, Levendris visited the FBI office with his attorney, admitted that the substance was high-grade, weaponized ricin, and stated that he thought about using it in an elaborate suicide plan or to threaten his cousin or kill his step-father. The Sixth Circuit affirmed his conviction for possessing a biological toxin for use as a weapon, 18 U.S.C. 175(a), rejecting an argument that, in light of the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Bond v. United States, the federal prohibition on biological weapons does not apply to his allegedly “purely local” conduct. The court also affirmed his conviction for willfully and knowingly making a materially false statement to the FBI and upheld denial of his motion to suppress the statements made at the nursing home. View "United States v. Levenderis" on Justia Law