Global Security Newswire

A Washington state man found guilty in 2003 of plotting to poison his wife with the deadly toxin ricin has asked that his conviction be thrown out in the wake of the disgrace of a prosecution witness, the Spokane Spokesman-Review reported yesterday (see GSN, April 16, 2004).

Kenneth Olsen was sentenced to 13 years in prison under the 1989 U.S. Biological Weapons Antiterrorism Act. Federal prosecutors claimed that he had studied toxins and produced the ricin from castor beans with the intention of killing his wife.

Olsen's attorneys said he meant no harm, and his wife apparently felt the same.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals previously supported the federal jury's decision but cut the sentence to 10 years.

Prosecutors had relied on the expert testimony of then-Washington State Patrol crime laboratory head Arnold Melnikoff. However, Melnikoff by the time of Olsen's trial had been found to have given expert testimony based on questionable science in a Montana rape trial. The conviction in that case was thrown out because of his testimony.

Olsen's appeal argues that his trial lawyers were not adequately briefed on inquiries into Melnikoff's professional conduct, which cost him his job in 2004. It also says that one juror at the trial believed Olsen was guilty even before the trial had begun.

The deadline for prosecutors to reply to the appeal in Dec. 11. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 29 (Jim Camden, Spokesman-Review, Nov. 19).