By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

Four years after Steven Kurtz was accused of bioterrorism-related offenses and charged with mail and wire fraud, the case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara.

On Monday, Arcara, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, dismissed the indictment against Kurtz, who'd been investigated for bioterrorism after his wife died of heart failure in their Buffalo home, where police, he claims, mistook his art for bioterrorism materials, based on bacterial samples he uses in his science-based art.

In June 2004, Kurtz, a University at Buffalo visual-studies professor, was accused of illegally obtaining $256 worth of what he calls "harmless" bacteria from Robert Ferrell, a genetics professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

Ferrell pleaded guilty in February to a misdemeanor charge of mailing an injurious article to Kurtz, stating that his ill health led him to take the plea.

"I certainly feel a sense of vindication, and this indicates what we've said all along: that I'm completely innocent of any crime," Kurtz, who was represented by Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria LLP Partner Paul Cambria, said in a phone interview Tuesday.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo is reviewing the ruling, according to a spokeswoman. It has 30 days to file an appeal. If an appeal is sought, the case would move to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City.

Kurtz said he's "cautiously optimistic" as he awaits final resolution of the case.

The Buffalo resident said he's debt-free thanks to grass-roots funding through the Critical Arts Ensemble Defense Fund.

"The art world saw the attack on one as an attack on all," he said. "I'm certainly lucky, because I could be without a home and without a life. The cost of justice in this country is something else."