It was quite a story last week: Paul Kevin Curtis, an Elvis impersonator, was accused of sending letters containing ricin, a potentially dangerous poison, to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and President Obama. He was arrested at his Mississippi home, two days after reports of the letters became public, following an investigation by federal, state, and local law enforcement.
That was then; this is now.
Kevin Paul Curtis, the Mississippi man suspected of mailing ricin-laced letters to a senator and to the president, has been released from custody, his defense attorney told NBC affiliate WTVA in Mississippi. [...]Curtis, 45, was released on bond from Mississippi's Lafayette County Detention Center on Wednesday afternoon, defense attorney Christi McCoy confirmed to WTVA. It was not immediately clear if there were conditions for his release.
The production of ricin leaves behind a detectable residue, and the FBI found no evidence in Curtis' home or vehicle. His lawyer, who insisted that the government lacked probable cause to hold Curtis, told reporters yesterday, "The searches are concluded, not one single shred of evidence was found to indicate Kevin could have done this."
It is unclear at this point whether law enforcement still even considers Curtis a suspect in the mailings -- the charges have not been dropped, though his attorneys and federal officials will reportedly hold a joint press conference later today -- but it's worth emphasizing that the local NBC affiliate reports today that two FBI agents, capitol police, and local authorities have raided the home of J. Everett Dutschke of Mississippi in possible connection with the ricin investigation.
Dutschke, a former Republican state legislative candidate with a controversial past, has denied wrongdoing.
Update: All charges against Curtis were dropped this afternoon.