Defense to Look at Mental State of Unabomber Suspect

Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski’s mental problems may be the focus in the defense against charges that he built the homemade bombs that killed two people and maimed two others, court papers show.

Defense attorneys filed documents Wednesday saying they intend to seek testimony from expert witnesses about Kaczynski’s mental condition.

That could lay the groundwork for a defense focused on establishing Kaczynski’s diminished mental state, a condition that would deem the suspect incapable of harboring intent to commit murder, legal experts said.

Kaczynski, 55, is accused of setting the bombs that killed three people and injured 23 between 1978 and 1995.

He has been held in the state capital on charges that his bombs killed two Sacramento men and injured two people in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Kaczynski also faces trial in New Jersey in connection with the third fatal bombing. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Kaczynski, whose trial is scheduled to begin in November.

Federal defenders Quin Denvir and Judy Clarke refused to discuss their strategy in representing Kaczynski, a former mathematics professor who in recent years lived in isolation in Montana.

However, the defense is not bound to a strategy centered on Kaczynski’s mental state and is probably keeping several options in mind, experts said.

Prosecutors said they were not surprised by the defense’s action.

“We always knew it was a possibility,” said R. Steven Lapham, an assistant U.S. attorney on the prosecution team. “Now we will be getting a game plan together and continue to move forward.”

The government is likely to request an independent psychiatric exam, he said.