Shannon Guess Richardson, the Texas woman who allegedly sent ricin-laced letters to President Obama earlier this year, went into premature labor while in custody.

Richardson gave birth to a baby boy on July 4th, but the infant was four months early and only weighed two pounds. He is still under medical care and will require surgery, according to Richardson’s attorney.

“I’ve been told he’s in need of heart surgery and of course has issues with his lungs not being fully developed,” Tonda Curry said.

Richardson is accused of sending the poison-laced mail to Obama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns; initially, she blamed her husband for the letters before she was arrested in June. The suspect was an actress who had small parts in “The Walking Dead” and “Vampire Diaries”. She’s currently being held without bail in Texas.

Ricin, which comes from castor beans, is extremely dangerous and can be fatal depending on the amount a person is exposed to and the manner in which they come into contact with it. In fact, in the 1940s the U.S. military experimented with ricin as a warfare agent. It’s so effective because it gets inside the cells of the human body and denies them the ability to make proteins.

The Husband of the actress who's accused of sending ricin letters to Pres Obama breaks his silence with me on #CNN: http://t.co/wkK2XHpNMx

— Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBCNN) June 13, 2013

Judge orders mental evaluation for ricin suspect – A federal judge ordered a mental evaluation for a Texas actress… http://t.co/VXuC23MMxe

— WTAE-TV Pittsburgh (@WTAE) June 21, 2013