You Can Sleep Well Again: Feds Chalk Up Another
Victory
Against Art
CONTACTS:
Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Claire Pentecost: 773-383-9771
Gregory Sholette: 212-865-3076
Edmund Cardoni: 716-854-1694
Igor Vamos: 917-209-3282
Lucia Sommer: 716-359-3061
Dianne Raeke Ferrell: 412-352-2704
SICKNESS, "ABSURD" DOJ PROSECUTION FORCE SCIENTIST TO
PLEAD IN
PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE
Scientist's Wife and Daughter Comment on Case
Buffalo, NY - Today in Federal District Court, Dr.
Robert Ferrell,
Professor of Human Genetics at the University of
Pittsburgh Graduate
School of Public Health, under tremendous pressure,
pled guilty to
lesser charges rather than facing a prolonged trial
for federal
charges of "mail fraud" and "wire fraud" in a surreal
post-PATRIOT
Act legal case that has attracted worldwide attention.
"From the beginning, this has been a persecution, not
a prosecution.
Although I have not seen the final agreement, the
initial versions
contained incorrect and irrelevant information," said
Dr. Dianne
Raeke Ferrell, Dr. Ferrell's wife and an Associate
Professor of
Special Education and Clinical Services at Indiana
University of
Pennsylvania. "Bob is a 27 year survivor of
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
which has reoccurred numerous times. He has also had
malignant
melanoma. Since this whole nightmare began, Bob has
had two minor
strokes and a major stroke which required months of
rehabilitation."
Dr. Ferrell added that her husband was indicted just
as he was
preparing to undergo a painful and dangerous
autologous stem cell
transplant, the second in 7 years.
The Ferrells' daughter, Gentry Chandler Ferrell,
added: "Our family
has struggled with an intense uncertainty about
physical, emotional
and financial health for a long time. Agreeing to a
plea deal is a
small way for dad to try to eliminate one of those
uncertainties and
hold on a little longer to the career he worked so
hard to develop...
Sadly, while institutions merely are tarnished from
needless
litigation, individuals are torn apart. I remain
unable to wrap my
mind around the absurdity of the government's pursuit
of this case
and I am saddened that it has been dragged out to the
point where my
dad opted to settle from pure exhaustion." (To read
Gentry Ferrell's
full statement, please visit:
http://caedefensefund.org/press/ferrellplea.html)
Dr. Ferrell's colleague Dr. Steven Kurtz, founder of
the
internationally acclaimed art and theater group
Critical Art
Ensemble, was illegally detained and accused of
"bioterrorism" by the
U.S. government in 2004 stemming from his acquisition
from Dr.
Ferrell of harmless bacteria used in several of
Critical Art
Ensemble's educational art projects. After a costly
investigation
lasting several months and failing to provide any
evidence of
"bioterrorism," the Department of Justice instead
brought charges of
"mail fraud" and "wire fraud" against Kurtz and
Ferrell. Under the
USA PATRIOT Act, the maximum penalty for these charges
has increased
from 5 years to 20. (For more information about the
case, please see
"Background to the Case" below or
http://caedefensefund.org)
JURIDICAL ART CRITICISM?
The government is vigorously attempting to prosecute
two defendants
in a case where no one has been injured, and no one
has been
defrauded. The materials found in Dr. Kurtz's house
were obtained
legally and used safely by the artist. After three and
a half years
of investigation and prosecution, the case still
revolves around
$256 worth of common science research materials that
were used in
art works by a highly visible and respected group of
artists. These
art works were commissioned and hosted by cultural
institutions
worldwide where they had been safely displayed in
museums and
galleries with absolutely no risk to the public.
The Government has consistently framed this case as an
issue of
public safety, but the materials used by Critical Art
Ensemble are
widely available, can be purchased by anyone from High
School science
supply catalogues, and are regularly mailed.
PROFESSORS OF ART & SCIENCE EXPRESS ALARM
"The government's prosecution is an ill-conceived and
misguided
attack on the scientific and artistic communities,"
said Dr. Richard
Gronostajski, Professor of Biochemistry at SUNY
Buffalo, where
Professor Kurtz also teaches. "It could have a
chilling effect on
future scientific research collaborations, and harm
teaching efforts
and interactions between scientists, educators and
artists."
"It's deeply alarming that the government could
pressure someone of
Dr. Ferrell's stature into agreeing to something like
this. The case
threatens all Americans' Constitutionally guaranteed
right to
question the actions of their government," said Igor
Vamos, Professor
of Integrated Electronic Arts at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute.
PLEA COMES AMIDST OVERWHELMING PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR
DEFENDANTS
The plea bargain agreement comes at a time of
overwhelming public
support for the two defendants. A film about the case,
Strange
Culture - directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson and
featuring Tilda
Swinton (Chronicles of Narnia, Michael Clayton),
Thomas Jay Ryan
(Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and Peter
Coyote (E.T., Erin
Brockovich) - has drawn widespread critical praise and
public
interest, with screenings in dozens of U.S. cities
after its
selection to open both the 2007 Human Rights Watch
International Film
Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival
documentary
section. An October 1 screening of the film at the
Museum of Modern
Art in New York City drew a crowd of 400 who stayed
for an hour
afterward for a discussion with Professor Kurtz,
director Hershman
Leeson, and actress Tilda Swinton. Special benefit
screenings of the
film in numerous cities have raised thousands of
dollars to offset
the two defendants' escalating legal costs.
BACKGROUND TO THE CASE
The legal nightmare of renowned scientist Dr. Robert
Ferrell and
artist and professor Dr. Steven Kurtz began in May
2004. Professor
Kurtz and his late wife Hope were founding members of
the
internationally exhibited art and theater collective
Critical Art
Ensemble. Over the past decade cultural institutions
worldwide have
commissioned and hosted Critical Art Ensemble's
participatory theater
projects that help the general public understand
biotechnology and
the many issues surrounding it. In May 2004 the
Kurtzes were
preparing a project examining genetically modified
agriculture for
the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, when
Hope Kurtz died of
heart failure. Detectives who responded to Professor
Kurtz's 911 call
deemed the couple's art suspicious, and called the
FBI. Within hours
the artist was illegally detained as a suspected
"bioterrorist" as
dozens of federal agents in Hazmat suits sifted
through his work and
impounded his computers, manuscripts, books, his cat,
and even his
wife's body.
CASE DEPLETES PUBLIC AND PRIVATE RESOURCES
The government has pursued this case relentlessly for
three and a
half years, spending enormous amounts of public
resources. Most
significantly, the legal battle has exhausted the
financial,
emotional, and physical resources of Ferrell and
Kurtz; as well as
their families and supporters. The professional and
personal lives of
both defendants have suffered tremendously. A trial
date has not yet
been established.
For more information about the case, including
extensive
documentation, please visit http://caedefensefund.org
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