BURLINGTON — A 71-year-old woman who authorities say made the deadly poison ricin and tested it on her fellow residents at a Shelburne retirement community last November has been sentenced to time served.
No resident of the Wake Robin facility suffered permanent injuries as a result of the actions of Betty Miller, who later told authorities she wanted to see if poison she made actually worked before she took it in a bid to harm herself.
Miller is expected to be released from a Vermont jail on Monday, and will be heading to Bangor, Maine, where she has family. Her attorney, Paul Volk, said in court Thursday that she will receive psychiatric care at a facility there.
Judge Christina Reiss imposed the time-served sentence at the conclusion of a hearing in federal court in Burlington. In addition to the time served, the judge imposed five years of probation for Miller and ordered her to pay a $10,000 fine.
According to her attorney, Miller has already paid $90,000 to Wake Robin to reimburse the retirement facility for the cost of the cleanup from the hazardous chemical.
Miller had earlier pleaded guilty to a felony charge of knowingly possessing a toxin, namely ricin, without obtaining the proper federal approvals.
The judge at the start of the hearing Thursday opted against accepting the terms of an earlier plea agreement that called for a sentence of time served for Miller, plus three years of supervised release.
In calling for the five years of probation, the judge cited the longer period of supervision for Miller, and a greater consequence of up to five years in prison if she were to violate the terms of that probation.
While the judge, prosecutor and defense attorney all talked at the hearing of the seriousness of the offense, they also cited Miller’s mental health condition as a leading cause of her actions.
“The way you went about your self-harm put others at risk of great harm and death,” Reiss told Miller. “Other people could have died because of your actions.”
The judge then said of the poison that Miller made: “It’s so serious that it’s considered a weapon of mass construction.”
Miller has been in custody since her arrest late last year.
In court Thursday, Miller addressed the judge, saying she has learned about herself and others during her time behind bars.
She also said, “I learned a lot of new swear words.”
According to court records, on Nov. 28 Vermont law enforcement, the FBI and emergency personnel responded to Wake Robin after learning of a potentially hazardous substance on the grounds.
A search of the retirement home that day turned up a bottle labeled “ricin” in Miller’s residence, court records stated. The Vermont Forensic Lab confirmed that the bottle contained ricin, a toxin regulated by the federal government due to the severe threat it poses to public health.
During an interview with authorities, Miller said she was interested in plant-based poisons and had conducted internet research on how to make them.
She said she made ricin in the kitchen of her Wake Robin residence and tested its potency by placing it in the food or beverages of other residents.
Inside Miller’s residence, court records stated, the FBI located ricin, along with components from a number of plants, including apple, yew, cherry, castor and foxglove, which all can be used to produce toxins.
In total, according to court records, investigators said they believe Miller picked 30 to 40 castor beans and made two to three tablespoons of ricin following the online instructions.
Miller told an FBI agent that she placed it on food or in beverages she expected them to consume on at least three occasions over a period several weeks.
This story will be updated.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Woman gets time served in ricin poisoning case.