Kaczynski’s Kin Argue Against Death Penalty

The family of Unabomber suspect Theodore J. Kaczynski is stepping up its public campaign to keep the Harvard-educated mathematician from facing the death penalty, maintaining that he is mentally disturbed.

While federal prosecutors are weighing whether to seek the death penalty on murder-by-bombing charges, his family members offer their view as part of a segment scheduled Sunday on the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes.”

The segment focuses, in part, on the emotions experienced by the family in the past year since Kaczynski’s brother, David, and his wife went to authorities with their speculation that he could be the person responsible for a 17-year series of bombings that killed three people and injured 23 others.

“There are people in this world that are mentally ill. Are we going to start killing them?” Wanda Kaczynski, the suspect’s mother, asks during the program. “What kind of a barbaric society are we heading for?

“I agree that as far as possible we should restrain people from doing harm to other people, but should the answer be, ‘Let’s kill ‘em?’ ”

The FBI arrested Theodore Kaczynski five months ago at a remote Montana cabin. In June, he was moved to the Sacramento County Jail after a federal grand jury indicted him in four Unabomber-related explosions, including two fatal attacks: the 1985 death of Sacramento computer store owner Hugh Scrutton and the 1995 death of lobbyist Gilbert Murray.

The murder-by-bombing charges against the former UC Berkeley math teacher could carry the death penalty, but prosecutors have yet to decide if they will seek it. U.S. Atty. Charles W. Stevens said he expects to make a recommendation to Justice Department officials in the next few weeks, but it still could be months before Atty. Gen. Janet Reno makes a final determination. The trial in Sacramento is expected sometime next year.

Speaking on behalf of the family, attorney Anthony P. Bisceglie said he has urged Justice Department officials not to seek the death penalty, citing mental problems suffered by the defendant. “Who knows Ted better than the family? They’ve watched the guy deteriorate,” he said.

Among public officials, Gov. Pete Wilson has beaten the drum the loudest for the death penalty. “Given the heinous crimes that Mr. Kaczynski is accused of, if he is convicted, Californians would hope and expect that the federal government would seek the most severe penalty against him--the death penalty,” Wilson said after Kaczynski was indicted.

Friends of the Unabomber’s victims side with the governor. “Our wish is that he receive the toughest penalty under the law, and that’s the death penalty,” says Donn Zea, an official with the California Forestry Assn., for which Murray worked.