Lab worker in poison case released

A lab worker in San Francisco accused of trying to poison a colleague has been freed on his own recognizance.

Ben Chun Liu, a Chinese national who worked in the urology lab at the University of California San Francisco, faces an attempted murder charge, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday. Investigators say that he put the laboratory chemical ethidium bromide into a cup near the work station of Mei Cao.

Judge Kathleen Kelly told Liu to surrender his passport. He was also ordered to stay away from Cao and from the university.

Investigators say they do not know why Liu put the chemical in a cup, although he said when questioned that he was stressed. Cao and Liu were not romantically involved, they said.

Bill Fazio, Liu's lawyer, said that Cao was not his target, that the cup was in an area common to the lab workers.

Certain things make no sense to anybody, Fazio said.