Sentencing date set for man who sent ricin letters to Obama

JACKSON, Miss. – A man who pleaded guilty to making ricin and sending letters dusted with the poison to President Barack Obama and other officials will be sentenced on May 14.

The 42-year-old James Everett Dutschke also pleaded guilty in January to sending the ricin-laced letters to Republican Sen. Roger Wicker and Mississippi judge Sadie Holland.

Prosecutors have recommended a 25-year sentence.

READ MORE: Ricin letters: man says wife’s arrest for trying to frame him is like a ‘bad dream’

While poisoned letters addressed to Obama and Wicker were intercepted before delivery, one letter reached Holland. She was not harmed.

Prosecutors said Dutschke tried to frame entertainer Paul Kevin Curtis, who was originally arrested in the case.

Charges against Curtis were dropped when the investigation shifted to Dutschke. Curtis said he and Dutschke have feuded for years.

Before pleading guilty in the ricin case, Dutschke had denied sending the letters. He also denied a charge filed in November that, while incarcerated, he tried to recruit someone else to send a ricin-tainted letter.

READ MORE: Experts: Ricin used in toxic letters relatively easy to make

Dutschke is a former martial arts instructor in the north Mississippi town of Tupelo, Elvis Presley’s birthplace. He had also run unsuccessfully for public office, including for a state legislative seat in which he challenged the son of the judge who received one of the letters.