40 months prison ordered in Oshkosh ricin case

A former biology student will spend 40 months in prison for having the deadly toxin ricin in his Oshkosh home.

Kyle Smith, 21, who was a fourth-year student at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh at the time of his arrest in October, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge William Griesbach.

Griesbach also sentenced Smith to 10 years of supervised release, which includes being subject to random drug tests and searches of his computer equipment.

"Hopefully you've seen the fear that gripped the Oshkosh community," Griesbach said at a sentencing hearing that lasted more than three hours. "I think you understood that this was playing with fire."

Ricin infects human cells and blocks their ability to synthesize protein, according to the complaint. Small doses are lethal to humans if ingested, inhaled or injected, and there are no known antidotes, the complaint says.

Smith in March pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Green Bay to possessing ricin for no justifiable peaceful reason. A charge of possession of ricin as a weapon was dismissed as part of a plea agreement. Smith could have received up to 10 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release.

In court Friday, Smith sat quietly in an orange jail jump suit, his legs shackled, as experts debated what could have happened if the ricin was used against a person. His parents and other family members sat in the courtroom; his father occasionally dabbed his eyes.

"I just want to apologize to everybody, in case I frightened them," Kyle Smith said. "That was never my intention. I'm glad that I have a family that still loves and supports me."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Kanter had argued for a 48-month sentence, saying that Smith was aware of the danger of what he was doing. He said Smith's claims that he had been alienated and bullied didn't mitigate the dangers his actions posed to the public.

"We all know, by events much too recent, what can happen when a young man is disaffected, separated from society and ... bullied," Kanter said.

Smith was arrested Oct. 31 after two of his professors told police they suspected he was making the toxin. Police cordoned off the area around Smith's off-campus home on Halloween; authorities from the Wisconsin National Guard's Weapons of Mass Destruction Unit searched the home in protective gear and seized a vial that contained 8 milligrams of ricin.

Smith told police he was fascinated by "using something living to harm something living," a criminal complaint states.

Defense lawyer William Kerner asked for a shorter sentence, saying Smith made the ricin more to impress his science professors than to harm or terrorize anyone.

"He was doing very badly in school," Kerner said. "He understood that actually hurting somebody would be wrong (but he thought) 'why can't I just do these little experiments and then tell my professors about them?' He was sharing information about the experiments with everybody, including people in authority."

Smith admitted to police he was preoccupied with death, was undergoing mental health counseling and had a history of violence as a child. That included using garden tools to beat rabbits and other small animals to death, court records say. Smith also told police he had no intention of using ricin on anything other than insects or mice. He wouldn't use it on people, he allegedly said, because too many people knew what he was doing and would accuse him.

During a break in Friday's hearing, Smith told family members he was glad he had had the chance to be outside to see the sunshine "and smell the grass" before he was sentenced.

He also said that making the ricin "was definitely a stupid decision."

— dschneid@greenbaypressgazette.com and follow him on Twitter @PGDougSchneider