[If the facts are as the ProMED editors claim they are (and ProMED is a respectable source), this is beyond a disgrace. The federal agents and prosecutors responsible for this outcome should be the ones dishonored, fined, and imprisoned. Of course they're not. Remember, it is rarely in your own interest to cooperate with the Feds without a lawyer's involvement. If people begin to understand this, perhaps some good can come from Dr. Butler's travails. --Declan] -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Bioterrorism Prosecution - Thomas Butler Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 16:49:32 -0500 From: To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private> PLEASE DO NOT CREDIT ME ON THIS POST ---- * If you are a researcher, and lose track of some infectious agent, think twice before reporting it. * Never, never, never speak to a federal agent without legal counsel. From ProMED-mail, the email list of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.promedmail.org/pls/promed/f?p=2400:1001:5120297554616370640::NO::F2400_P1001_BAC K_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,29134 or http://tinyurl.com/bvwth Thomas Butler, Physician- Scientist, prisoner ---------------------- The paragraphs below are the abstract and edited summary of an article in Clinical Infectious Diseases 2005; 40:1644-8, entitled "Destroying the Life and Career.of a Valued Physician-Scientist Who Tried to Protect Us From Plague: Was It Really Necessary?" Thomas Campbell Butler, at 63 years of age, is completing the 1st year of a 2-year sentence in federal prison, following an investigation and trial that was initiated after he voluntarily reported that he believed vials containing _Yersinia pestis_ were missing from his laboratory at Texas Tech University. We take this opportunity to remind the infectious diseases community of the plight of our esteemed colleague, whose career and family have, as a result of his efforts to protect us from infection by this organism, paid a price from which they will never recover. <snip> In January 2003, Dr. Butler could not locate 30 vials of plague specimens and reported this to the safety officer at Texas Tech University; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was notified by Texas Tech University, which resulted in 60 FBI agents rapidly descending upon Texas Tech University and the briefing of government officials, apparently up to the level of President George W. Bush. According to reliable sources, Butler was questioned by FBI agents without legal counsel which he waived, because he felt he had nothing to hide, he had worked with the military and federal agencies for years on this and other projects, and he genuinely wanted to help the FBI allay public fears. Testimony at the trial indicates that, after many hours of interrogation without sleep, and with the assurance that such interrogation would prevent any legal action, he signed a statement to the effect that the vials may have been autoclaved. He was then put in handcuffs and jailed, having been accused of lying to the FBI (a charge for which he was later acquitted). <snip> _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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