[www.baltimoresun.com]

SPOKANE, Wash. – There’s no question Ken Olsen made the stuff. He brought some castor beans to his work cubicle, put them through a coffee grinder and mixed in a common solvent. He then poured the concoction through a paper filter.

Within minutes, Olsen, a respected software engineer for a high-tech company and former Scoutmaster, had in his possession a few drops of ricin, one of the world’s most lethal toxins.

[…]

The presence of ricin violated federal law, and prosecutors, lacking evidence to charge Olsen with attempted murder, instead charged him with a little-used law intended for terrorists: possession of a biological agent with the intent to use it as a weapon.