When Innocence Is Not Enough by Thomas L. Dybdahl

Author:Thomas L. Dybdahl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The New Press

7

AN EPIDEMIC OF VIOLATIONS

Kenneth R. Olsen was an odd duck, as he freely conceded.1 Olsen was a chemist at Agilent Technologies, a manufacturer of analytical laboratory instruments in Liberty Lake, Washington. In August 2001, a coworker using a shared office printer found a document describing explosives.

Company security personnel identified Olsen as the person who had printed the document. When they interviewed him and examined his computer, they found he had made repeated internet searches related to poisons and killing, including such phrases as “undetectable death pill.” He explained that he just had “an irresponsible sense of curiosity” about “strange and morbid things.”

The investigators concluded that Olsen’s explanations for these various internet browsings were not credible. He claimed, for example, that he gathered information on poisons to help his son’s Boy Scout troop avoid potentially dangerous berries.

After the investigation, Olsen was fired. A search of his cubicle disclosed a wealth of printouts on methods of harming people. He also had test tubes, several bottles of medicines, a bag of mysterious beans, and various other chemistry paraphernalia.

Agilent passed these items to the police. A forensic scientist at the Washington State Patrol (WSP) crime lab, Arnold Melnikoff, found that the test tubes contained castor oil. The beans looked like castor beans. This raised the possibility Olsen might have been making ricin, a lethal poison derived from the beans.

Melnikoff’s lab could not test for ricin, so he sent the evidence to the FBI. Twelve items from Olsen’s cubicle proved positive for the poison. They included four capsules of Equate allergy medicine, with one having “a high concentration.” Since the pills had to be liquefied for testing, the lab could not say whether the ricin had been put inside the capsules to disguise it or had been on only the surfaces of the capsules.

In July 2002, Olsen was indicted for knowingly possessing a biological agent or toxin for use as a weapon, based on the allergy pills in his cubicle. A second charge of possession of a chemical weapon was added in April 2003. Three months later, after a twelve-day trial, a jury found him guilty of both charges. His convictions were affirmed on appeal. He was eventually sentenced to ten years and one month in prison.

At his trial, Olsen admitted he made and possessed ricin. But he denied doing it for “use as a weapon” or as a “chemical weapon,” which were essential parts of the charges. He said he was just curious.

To prove otherwise, the prosecution offered evidence he’d researched not only how to make poisons but also how to convey them. A key piece of their case was the claim Olsen had spiked an Equate capsule with ricin as a means of delivering it. Melnikoff testified for the government about his handling of Olsen’s items and the tests he had conducted on them.

Six years after Olsen’s convictions, while working on an appeal, his lawyers learned that prosecutors had suppressed evidence regarding Melnikoff’s honesty and professional competence. After getting complaints about him, WSP had conducted an internal probe of Melnikoff’s conduct at two previous jobs.

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