Steve Kurtz, an artist with the Critical Arts Ensemble, was working on Free Range Grain, the collective’s latest art project that studied the politics of biotechnology, when laboratory materials that was part of the project was accidentally discovered in Kurtz’s home. The materials were confiscated by the FBI and led to Mr. Kurtz being charged with bioterror The government later downgraded Mr. Kurtz’s charges to mail fraud, a far cry from the bioterrorism charges originally sought by the district attorney.