Ken Coghlan, attorney for James Everett Dutschke, enters the U.S. District Court for Dutschke's change-of-plea hearing, in Oxford, Miss. on Friday, Jan. 17, 2014. Dutschke has been charged with sending poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and other officials. (AP Photo/Oxford Eagle, Bruce Newman)
January 17, 2014 - 5:37 AM
JACKSON, Miss. - A change-of-plea hearing was scheduled Friday for a man charged with sending poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and other officials.
James Everett Dutschke was scheduled for the hearing in U.S. District Court in Mississippi, according to court documents.
Dutschke, 42, previously pleaded not guilty and denied sending the letters.
He has been jailed since April on charges of sending ricin-tainted letters to Obama, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker and a Mississippi judge. The judge was the only one to receive a letter, though she was not harmed. The letters to Obama and Wicker were intercepted.
Authorities first arrested Paul Kevin Curtis for allegedly sending the letters, which contained statements Curtis had often used on his Facebook page. But charges against Curtis were dropped when the investigation shifted to Dutschke. Curtis says the men have feuded for years.
Dutschke is accused of trying to frame Curtis. An indictment filed in November alleges that while incarcerated, he tried to recruit someone else to send a ricin-tainted letter.
Dutschke faces up to life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, the production of a biological weapon.
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News from © The Associated Press, 2014