Psychiatric Tests OKd for Kaczynski
Siding with prosecutors, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that government psychiatrists have the right to examine Unabomber defendant Theodore Kaczynski.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed without comment an appeal by Kaczynski’s lawyers, who contended that the prosecution’s proposed psychiatric testing violated the defendant’s constitutional protections against self-incrimination.
The decision by the San Francisco-based appeals court paves the way for the psychiatric testing to begin Saturday.
Kaczynski, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he used bombs to kill two people in Sacramento and injure two others. He faces the death penalty if convicted. His trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
He has been charged separately in New Jersey with the 1994 bombing death of an advertising executive and has also pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Lead prosecutor Robert Cleary said the government wants its own doctors to examine Kaczynski to meet a potential mental defect defense.
According to earlier court documents, defense lawyers may claim that Kaczynski suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
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