BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – An artist charged with improperly obtaining biological materials for his artwork is hoping the government will return his computer and other seized items so that he can get on with his work, his attorney said Wednesday.

Steven Kurtz, whose work with the Critical Art Ensemble has incorporated biological agents and other unusual scientific ingredients to make political statements, has pleaded innocent to mail fraud and wire fraud charges filed last month after authorities found bacterial agents in his Buffalo home.

“The FBI confiscated his computers, hard drives, books, writings, papers, correspondence, art projects and so on,” Kurtz’s attorney, Paul Cambria, said following a procedural hearing in U.S. District Court. “So we want those materials back, or at least copies so that he can get on with his business.”

Cambria said the government has not indicated that it would resist Kurtz’s request.

Kurtz, 46, a University at Buffalo art professor, is accused of plotting with Robert Ferrell, the former chairman of the University of Pittsburgh’s human genetics department, to obtain the materials using Ferrell’s position with the university. As a private individual, Kurtz was not eligible to order the materials himself, authorities said.

The biological agents and other items were seized from Kurtz’s home during two days in May after they drew the attention of emergency workers responding to the death of Kurtz’s wife, Hope. Authorities have not linked the death to the materials.

Although the majority of cases in U.S. District Court end with plea agreements, Cambria said Kurtz is not interested in such an outcome.

“There’s no discussion of that. There’s been no hint of that,” he said. “We’re not interested.”

Ferrell was indicted along with Kurtz but has yet to be arraigned because of illness.

His attorney, Efrem Grail, told U.S. Magistrate Kenneth Schroeder Wednesday that Ferrell recently stepped down from his chairmanship at the University of Pittsburgh because he is to be treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer, next month.

A statement by the university said the highly respected Ferrell’s voluntary resignation was health-related “and for no other reason.”

“Professor Ferrell is a very distinguished scientist,” the statement by spokesman Robert Hill said. “His work, over the course of several decades, has played an important role in advancing the cause of human health.”

AP-ES-07-28-04 1619EDT

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