Suit over scientist's mysterious death dismissed
Judge dismisses family's lawsuit against CIA over scientist's mysterious death
7/17/2013WASHINGTON — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the sons of a Cold War scientist who plunged to his death in 1953, just days after unwittingly taking LSD in a CIA mind-control experiment.
Frank Olson’s sons claimed that the CIA murdered their father by pushing him from a 13th-story window of a New York hotel — and that he didn’t jump to his death, as the agency contends.
But Judge James Boasberg cited the statute of limitations and a prior settlement agreement, among other things, in dismissing the suit Wednesday.
Eric and Nils Olson had sought compensatory damages to be determined at trial.
Frank Olson was a bioweapons expert at Fort Detrick, the Army’s biological weapons research center in Frederick, Md.