Fwd: TRIAL, AND BOOK LAUNCH, OF INDICTED ARTIST MOVE FORWARD

Begin forwarded message:

> TRIAL, AND BOOK LAUNCH, OF INDICTED ARTIST MOVE FORWARD
> By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press
> Last updated: 4:37 p.m., Thursday, May 18, 2006
>
> BUFFALO, N.Y. – Preparations for the trial of an
> artist whose home laboratory and books on biological
> agents drew the suspicion of police investigating the
> death of his wife continued Thursday just as the book
> and project the artist had been researching were being
> launched.
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>
> At issue in U.S. District Court is Steven Kurtz's
> effort to have any statements he made to police kept
> out of his upcoming trial on mail and wire fraud
> charges targeting the way he obtained bacteria for his
> unconventional artwork.
> In New York City, meanwhile, a companion film to
> Kurtz's book on germ warfare was on view in the
> Whitney Museum Biennial. The book "Marching Plague:
> Germ Warfare and Global Public Health," was published
> in April.
> Kurtz, along with University of Pittsburgh geneticist
> Robert Ferrell, were charged in 2004 with misusing
> Ferrell's account with a biological supply company to
> order bacteria for Kurtz. The University at Buffalo
> art professor is a founding member of Critical Art
> Ensemble, whose work sometimes challenges government
> policy and has touched on issues such as cloning and
> genetically altered food.
> Kurtz supporters say the criminal case is the
> government's attempt to silence artists like Kurtz, a
> claim prosecutors deny.
> The case began when Kurtz dialed 911 in May 2004 after
> finding his wife, Hope, dead of natural causes in
> their bed.
> While in Kurtz's home, police officers grew suspicious
> after seeing books related to biological weapons and
> laboratory equipment, including petri dishes with
> bacteria. The Joint Terrorism Task Force was summoned.
> Kurtz was later indicted on mail and wire fraud
> charges unrelated to terrorism.
> He declined to comment after Thursday's hearing, where
> he was represented by attorney Paul Cambria. Cambria's
> high-profile clients have included publisher Larry
> Flynt and the musicians Marilyn Manson and DMX.
> Supporters said that among items seized from Kurtz's
> home was a first draft of the Critical Art Ensemble
> germ warfare book, which questions the practice of
> channeling public resources into programs to counter
> bioterrorist attacks it says are unlikely to occur.
> A Web site that raises money for Kurtz's legal defense
> promotes "Marching Plague" as "the book and film the
> FBI tried to stop."
> "This is about intimidating people who are critical of
> the current administration," Lucia Sommer of the
> Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund said of the
> criminal case against Kurtz.
> Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hochul responded that
> the case had nothing to do with the book, noting the
> indictment against Kurtz and Ferrell was returned by a
> grand jury.
> "This case involves illegally obtaining two biological
> organisms by fraud and has nothing to do with books or
> any other expression," Hochul said.
> ——
> On the Net:
> Critical Art Ensemble: http://www.critical-art.net
> Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund:
> http://www.caedefensefund.org