Kurtz Lawyer Says Government's Case "Trivializes" the Law

BUFFALO, N.Y.—A lawyer for Steven Kurtz, a University of Buffalo professor charged with mail and wire fraud for receiving bacteria in the mail from codefendant Robert Ferrell, a genetics professor at the University of Pittsburgh who ordered the organisms for him, argued on Monday that the government's prosecution "trivializes" the law, reports Newsday. Kurtz has been fighting to have the charges dropped since 2004.

The government's case is based on a "material transfer agreement" outlined in shipments from the lab and on its Web site, which prohibits the buyer from giving the purchased materials to a third party. Attorney Paul Cambria, who represents Kurtz, said the case "trivializes the federal law because it tries to elevate an unstated, unrepresented civil requirement to a crime" and equated Ferrell and Kurtz's actions with ripping a "do not remove" tag off a chair cushion.

The situation came to law enforcement's attention when Kurtz dialed 911 in May 2004 after finding his wife dead of natural causes in their bed and police who responded to the call alerted the Joint Terrorism Task Force after finding lab equipment and petri dishes there. Investigators determined the relatively harmless bacteria were used for Kurtz's art projects with the avant-garde group he founded, the Critical Art Ensemble, and no terrorism-related charges were filed. U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara will rule on the motion to dismiss the charges sometime after the March 7 deadline for additional written arguments.