Ricin Letter Suspect Paul Kevin Curtis Released From Prison

Paul Kevin Curtis, the man charged with writing and sending sending ricin-tainted letters to President Barack Obama, a U.S. senator and a state judge was released from jail on Tuesday. Curtis was jailed in Mississippi, following an arrest linking him to letters that were poisoned with ricin and sent to Washington. The reasons for Curtis's release are not yet clear, but he has likely been released because the FBI could not find enough evidence to charge him.

Chief deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service of Oxford, Miss., Jeff Woodfin, said Curtis has been released from custody but did not specify conditions of the release. Mere hours before, officials cancelled a detention and preliminary hearing about the ricin letter case. They also did so without explanation.

Curtis's lawyer, Christi McCoy, told the AP in a text message Tuesday that she could only confirm that her client has been released.  She has been pushing for the charges to be dropped and says there is not enough evidence against her client. "I can tell you he is with his family," McCoy said. Last week, she told the LA Times "There is absolutely not a shred of evidence to link this poor guy."

A news conference will take place at 5 p.m. CDT with federal authorities and defense attorneys. The hearing this morning was canceled about 90 minutes after it was supposed to begin. Lawyers conferred with the judge, and Curtis and his family members likely met with lawyers and officers.

On Monday at a preliminary hearing, FBI Agent Brandon Grant testified that extensive searches of Curtis' vehicle and house in Corinth, Miss., found no ricin, ingredients for the poison, or devices used to make it; his computers did not show any keywords relating to making ricin.

"There was no apparent ricin, castor beans or any material there that could be used for the manufacturing, like a blender or something," Grant testified. McCoy, Curtis' attorney, testified that someone, such as a specific former business associate, may have framed Curtis.

Curtis was arrested last Wednesday at his house in Corinth, Miss., and charged with sending ricin-laced letters  to President Barack Obama, Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, and a Lee County, Miss., judge. One piece of evidence connecting Curtis to the case was that the letters were signed with a phrase used on his Facebook page "I am KC and I approve this message".

Authorities suspected Wicker after using the initials KC that appeared in the letters and other clues.  They pared a list from thousands of people to hundreds who lived in an area that would have a Memphis, Tenn., postmark, including much of northern Mississippi. Investigators said Curtis was identified as someone who had written the senator before. He also self-published a novel called "Missing Pieces", a phrase the letters referenced.  "KC," and that the letters referenced "Missing Pieces," an apparent nod to Curtis' book.

More details will emerge at a press conference, slated for 5 PM today.