Parolee Held in Poisoning of Judge’s Wife
A former New York University professor was charged Friday with sending poisoned Valentine’s Day candy to U.S. Judge Charles L. Brieant Jr., who had sent him to prison in 1980 for manufacturing LSD, methaqualone and other controlled substances.
The professor, John Buettner-Janusch, who was paroled from prison in 1982, allegedly mailed a box of chocolates to Judge Brieant’s home. It arrived on Friday, Feb. 13, along with a Valentine’s Day card, signed with a question mark.
According to the complaint, Mrs. Brieant opened the chocolate, ate four pieces, became ill and lost consciousness. She was discovered by the judge a short time later, was taken to a hospital and remained there for four days.
Analysis performed by the FBI labs in Washington, D.C., disclosed that one piece of candy contained atropine, an alkaloid poison, and sparteine, a stimulant. Pilocarpine hydrochloride, a poison, was found in a second piece of candy in what the complaint stated was a “lethal amount.”
Buettner-Janusch, formerly the head of New York University’s anthropology department, was arrested Thursday after a fingerprint analysis of the candy’s package allegedly turned up a latent impression of the fifth finger of his right hand.
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