Kaczynski Pleads Not Guilty

In a hearing that lasted less than three minutes, Unabomber suspect Theodore J. Kaczynski pleaded not guilty to charges that he engineered four separate attacks that killed two Sacramento men and maimed a UC San Francisco geneticist and a Yale University computer scientist.

During his arraignment, Kaczynski, 54, was silent. But his court-appointed attorney, Quin Denvir, spoke on his behalf, telling U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski: “We would ask that you enter a plea of not guilty, and we would request a jury trial.”

Nowinski told the Harvard-trained mathematician, appearing in a California court for the first time, that he has the right to remain silent, admonishing him that if he spoke, “your statement may be used against you.”

Later, Denvir, talking to a throng of reporters outside the federal courthouse here, said he thought that Kaczynski’s trial would not start for a year to 18 months.

The next hearing for Kaczynski, who is being held without bail, was set for July 19.

At his news briefing, Denvir, the federal public defender in Sacramento, provided few clues about his case. But he said that between now and July 19, he will plow through at least 1,400 pages of evidence turned over by federal prosecutors and assemble his trial team.

Denvir indicated that it was likely that he would move to keep out of the jury’s hands portions of the material amassed by the government against Kaczynski and that he might seek to move the trial out of the state capital.

Kaczynski, after being whisked to the courthouse Tuesday morning a few blocks from the county jail in a bulletproof black vehicle, tripped as he walked upstairs. He suffered a minor scrape, which required a bandage under his right eye, said Sharon Telles, a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.

Otherwise, Denvir said, his client is doing fine, adjusting to living in a jail with 1,800 county prisoners, rather than the smaller, more personal lockup in Helena, Mont. He had been held there for 11 weeks until last Sunday, when he was flown to Sacramento.

In court, Kaczynski nodded to the magistrate but did not turn to face the courtroom, which was packed with more than 100 reporters, news artists and spectators. His beard and hair trimmed, Kaczynski appeared to be wearing the same khaki pants and green shirt he had on last week when a judge in Helena ordered him moved to California.

Kaczynski was arrested April 3 at his tiny shack about 60 miles from Helena on a single explosives charge. That charge was dismissed to ease his transfer to California.

Last week, he was charged in a 10-count indictment in the 1985 bomb attack that killed computer store owner Hugh Scrutton and the 1995 slaying of lobbyist Gilbert Murray, president of the California Forestry Assn. He also was indicted in two bombings that maimed UC San Francisco geneticist Charles Epstein and Yale University computer scientist David Gelernter.

Federal officials have charged Kaczynski in four attacks, but say they believe that he is the Unabomber who is responsible for 16 attacks between 1978 and 1995. The other cases remain under investigation.

The murder-by-bombing charges against the former UC Berkeley math professor could carry the death penalty--a decision prosecutors have yet to make. There is no general federal murder statute.

After Tuesday’s hearing, U.S. Marshal Jerry Enomoto said he thought that the arraignment unfolded the way it was supposed to, with tight security and in a “very quick” fashion.

Enomoto’s deputies are responsible for moving Kaczynski to and from the jail. Kaczynski is being held on the jail’s eighth floor in a 72-square-foot isolation cell--about the size of his Montana shack. The cell has a louvered window facing Interstate 5, and Kaczynski can peer outside his cell and watch a nearby TV.

Enomoto said Kaczynski is an “avid reader” and as much general reading material is being provided him “as can be managed.” Former state Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Cypress), who spent time in the jail while awaiting political corruption trials, once described the facility’s reading list as very limited, weighted toward romantic westerns.

Sheriff’s officials say no arrangements are being made to provide the Harvard-educated Kaczynski a special reading list.

Kaczynski is allowed out of the cell to exercise an hour a day. Monday, sheriff’s deputies reported that he jogged.

He eats standard jail food, which Monday included barbecued chicken and rice for dinner. But Kaczynski must dine alone because he is prohibited from mixing with other inmates.

Sheriff’s spokesman John McGinness said the jail’s famous prisoner is entitled to two visitors a week but “he’s indicated through his attorney that he wants to see no one except his attorney.”

Tuesday’s hearing was the first opportunity for Denvir’s defense team to appear on Kaczynski’s behalf. Montana Federal Defender Anthony Gallagher was with Denvir, but declined to spell out his role in the case.

Denvir, who on June 1 became the federal public defender in Sacramento, said he will take an active role in the defense. A former state public defender, Denvir has most recently been in private practice.

Asked about reports that well-known defense lawyer Gerry Spence of Wyoming has volunteered to join the defense team, Denvir said he has not been approached by Spence, who gained attention as a commentator during the O.J. Simpson trial.

First in line to watch the hearing were two recent high school graduates, Brian Nichelmann and Randy Leeper, both 18, from suburban Citrus Heights. “It’s going to be history,” said Leeper, explaining why he arrived at the courthouse at 8 a.m., five hours before the hearing.

“As long as we’ve been alive,” Nichelmann said, “the Unabomber has been terrorizing people.”