Walt Whitman Grad Milzman Pleads Guilty in Georgetown Ricin Case

Milzman admitted to watching the hit show Breaking Bad before making the poisonous substance

September 15, 2014 5:34 p.m.

Walt Whitman High School graduate and Georgetown University student Daniel Milzman pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a deadly poison in a deal with federal prosecutors Monday.

Milzman was arrested in March after police found ricin, a deadly poison recently made famous by the hit television show “Breaking Bad”, in Milzman’s Georgetown dormitory. He was 19 at the time of the arrest.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors and Milzman agreed to a sentence of between 12 months and two years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. A judge is scheduled to sentence Milzman on Nov. 10 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

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Court documents state that from Jan. 1, 2014 up until his arrest Milzman had been watching various episodes of “Breaking Bad” on his Netflix account. One of the plot lines of the show includes the main character using ricin to kill someone.

Milzman admitted to police that he made the deadly poison out of castor beans he purchased in Bethesda. Police found the poison inside Milzman’s desk drawer at McCarthy Hall on Georgetown's campus after Milzman told a residential assistant at the dorm that he had made it. Milzman directed police to the poison.

Court documents state the ricin Milzman made could have been lethal to an average person if it was inhaled or injected. Milzman planned to use the ricin on himself, according to the statement of offense signed by both parties.

Prior to the plea, federal prosecutors had argued Milzman planned to use the ricin to poison someone else, possibly a fellow student, according to The Washington Post, which covered the case at length.

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