Sacramento Trial Likely in Unabomber Case

Bombing charges that could carry the death penalty for Unabomber suspect Theodore J. Kaczynski are likely to be brought in federal court here by the end of the month, according to federal law enforcement sources.

Even before trial, the 54-year-old former UC Berkeley math professor is likely to be indicted in other states as well for crimes stemming from the Unabomber’s coast-to-coast trail of violence.

As evidence of this strategy, members of the federal Unabomber trial team have been designated as special attorneys in at least a handful of jurisdictions, including Montana, where Kaczynski lived, and Sacramento and New Jersey, where the three deaths connected to the Unabomber occurred.

This special designation allows prosecutors to work with grand juries in those locations, where the Unabomber allegedly committed his crimes. Any charges brought elsewhere could be consolidated for trial in Sacramento, if the defense goes along with a single prosecution, rather than multiple trials.

It has been more than two months since Kaczynski was taken into custody by federal agents in his tiny cabin near Lincoln, Mont., and charged with possession of illegal explosives.

Authorities say they believe he is the elusive Unabomber, who besides allegedly killing three people also injured 23 during 17 years of bombings. The Harvard-educated Kaczynski is being held in Helena, Mont.

Since Kaczynski’s arrest, Sacramento has been mentioned as a possible site of the trial for several reasons.

The Unabomber’s first fatal bombing occurred in Sacramento in 1985. A businessman was killed when he found a bomb near his computer store.

In April 1995, California Forestry Assn. President Gilbert P. Murray, 47, was killed while opening a mail bomb in the group’s Sacramento headquarters.

Also, several witnesses have told federal agents that they saw Kaczyski in Sacramento around the times of the Unabomber attacks in the city. In addition, packages containing two of his bombs and a recent Unabomber mailing had Sacramento postmarks.

On Wednesday, U.S. Atty. Charles J. Stevens declined to discuss any developments in the case, as did spokesmen for the FBI.

But federal law enforcement sources said the decision on where to bring charges was complicated and involved numerous factors, reflecting the quality of the evidence and the strength of the case that could be brought against Kaczynski.

Among the reasons believed to have figured in the decision were that Murray’s death was the most recent, and the evidence, including witness recall, is thought to be the freshest.

The Unabomber prosecution team is supervised by Merrick B. Garland, a top assistant to Deputy Atty. Gen. Jamie S. Gorelick. The team’s lead attorney is Robert J. Cleary, the first assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey. Others on the team include federal prosecutors R. Steven Lapham of Sacramento; Stephen Freccero of San Francisco; Bernard F. Hubley, an assistant U.S. attorney in Montana, and E. Thomas Roberts and J. Douglas Wilson, both from the Department of Justice’s criminal division in Washington.

Montana federal Public Defender Anthony Gallagher, who has represented Kaczynski, said he could not comment on reports that his client would be prosecuted in Sacramento.

“I’ve received nothing formal from the United States [government] . . . nothing at all,” Gallagher said, adding that the government has always had the option of pursuing indictments against Kaczynski in more than one venue.

Gallagher noted that he is awaiting a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on Kaczynski’s contention that he should not be prosecuted because of government leaks to the news media.

Gladstone reported from Sacramento and Ostrow from Washington.