MOSCOW, May 19 (RAPSI) - A US Court sentenced James Everett Dutschke, a sender of poisonous letters to US senators and President Barack Obama, to 25 years in prison, AP reports.

Judge Sharion Aycock announced the verdict to Dutschke after the defendant announced he was not going to withdraw his guilty plea he made last January. On Tuesday, he told the judge he would take back the plea and added that the federal prosecutors wrongly claimed that he produced the poison and that his DNA was found on a face mask. However, Dutschke admitted using castor seeds, used for producing toxic ricin, in a fertilizer.

AP reports pulling back the plea could have resulted in a life sentence.

The high-profile incident took place in late April 2013 when security services intercepted ricin containing letters one of which was addressed for US President Barack Obama.

The others were sent to senators Roger Wicker and Carl Levin. Dutschke was charged following a search and a discovery of a face mask with traces of his DNA allegedly used for production of the poison.