Unabomb Suspect Apparently Tries to Hang Self in Jail

Just hours after he apparently tried to hang himself, Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski on Thursday electrified a courtroom by saying he wants to be his own lawyer because he cannot endure being labeled mentally ill.

The U.S. Marshal’s Office said that when Kaczynski was driven to court on Thursday morning he had a red mark on the right side of his neck at collar level and his underwear was missing, according to Sacramento County Undersheriff Lou Blanas.

“We’re assuming . . . that sometime during the night hours he attempted to hang himself with his own underwear,” Blanas said at an afternoon press conference. Officials first said Kaczynski had flushed his Jockey briefs down the toilet, but later said they had found them during a second search of his cell.

Blanas added that the mathematics professor-turned-hermit is now on a 24-hour suicide watch on the jail’s second floor.

U.S. Marshal Jerry Enomoto cautioned that while a red mark was observed on Kaczynski’s neck, he could not confirm reports of a suicide attempt.

Before the suspected attempt was disclosed, Kaczynski for the first time agreed to an independent mental exam, triggering an indefinite delay in the start of his trial.

The day’s events left Kaczynski’s mother, Wanda, and brother, David, whose tip led to Theodore’s arrest, reeling. As they had earlier in the week, they wept openly in court.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen David,” said his attorney, Anthony Bisceglie. “He’s in terrible pain. David is crying. This is the family’s worst nightmare. It’s on a world stage.”

The reported suicide attempt occurred in the wake of Kaczynski’s failed bid late Wednesday to fire his attorneys because they refused to drop plans to tell jurors that he is suffering from a mental illness.

With opening statements scheduled for Thursday morning, the well-groomed, bearded Kaczynski, 55, strode into court and greeted his attorneys, Quin Denvir and Judy Clarke. Once again, he ignored his brother and mother sitting a few feet away in the front row and others in the courtroom, including at least one of his alleged victims.

During a brief discussion, Clarke fixed his collar and throughout the hearing draped her arm over Kaczynski’s shoulder, as did other defense lawyers, apparently trying to comfort the Chicago native, who has a genius IQ.

There was no public discussion of a possible suicide attempt. Indeed, a prosecution spokeswoman said she did not learn of it until after Thursday’s court proceedings.

With the courtroom packed with about 100 spectators, a subdued Clarke dropped Kaczynski’s latest bombshell, telling U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. that her client of 18 months now wants to represent himself.

“This is a very difficult position for him. He believes that he has no choice but to go forward as his own lawyer,” Clarke told Burrell. “It is a very heartfelt reaction, I believe, to the presentation of the mental illness defense, a situation in which he simply cannot endure.”

“He fears being labeled mentally ill,” Clarke told reporters later, more than anything else in his life. It was one of the few times she has spoken to the press about the proceedings.

With Clarke’s announcement ringing in his ears, an astonished Burrell, noting that Kaczynski just a day earlier had said he didn’t want to be his own lawyer, immediately delayed the trial for an indefinite period.

Kaczynski has pleaded not guilty in connection with four bombings, including attacks that killed a Sacramento computer store owner and a timber industry executive. He was arrested nearly a year ago at his tiny Montana cabin.

Burrell indicated that he would order Kaczynski to undergo what his attorneys have said he fears most: a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether the former UC Berkeley mathematics professor is competent to stand trial, a process that could take weeks with the jury waiting to be seated.

Jurors were in the courtroom only briefly and were not present during the discussion about Kaczynski’s legal representation. The judge sent the jury home, possibly for several weeks.

Burrell indicated that if Kaczynski is found competent, he probably will let him go forward as his own counsel, possibly with attorneys acting as his advisors.

Commenting on the dizzying series of developments on Thursday, Sacramento attorney Don Heller, a former federal prosecutor who is observing the trial, said, “I think this guy is intent on creating chaos.”

Heller predicted that Kaczynski will create other disturbances once the trial gets underway.

The opposing legal teams must now agree on a psychiatrist to evaluate Kaczynski--not to determine if he is mentally ill, but to pursue the much narrower question of whether he understands the bombing charges against him and is able to assist his counsel.

Burrell said he believed Kaczynski’s pledge to go through with the evaluation, despite his past refusal to submit to a mental examination by government lawyers.

Kaczynski’s opposition to a mental defects defense has caused a widening rift with his attorneys in recent weeks. But Denvir said Kaczynski’s request to represent himself was a surprise team and further proof of his client’s sickness.

“He’s only doing this out of desperation, because he could not bear our putting on a mental illness defense,” Denvir said in an interview. “That was just too painful for him. And that’s a sign of the illness.”

Denvir added that a court hearing would be held at 4 p.m. today to determine who might administer a psychiatric examination, and when.

Malcolm Segal, a Sacramento defense attorney tracking the case, called Kaczynski’s apparent suicide attempt “entirely inconsistent with the concept of a defendant representing himself--particularly where the ultimate outcome . . . is potentially the death penalty.”

Segal also said the apparent suicide attempt is further evidence that Kaczynski should be using an insanity defense. “Representing him has to be a nightmare,” Segal said, “because he is articulate, obviously very, very intelligent, calm and reasonable in his approach to the court, and totally self-destructive.”

Unclear Thursday was how Kaczynski’s apparent suicide attempt could have escaped the attention of his jailers, who Blanas said had been checking him every 30 minutes since Monday, when he appeared depressed.

Blanas said Kaczynski--until now a model prisoner--would be placed in a special cell and monitored 24 hours a day. He will wear an electronic heart monitor--a routine step for inmates under constant supervision--and will no longer be allowed one hour of daily exercise.

Meanwhile, at a Washington press briefing, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno--asked about authorizing the prosecution to seek the death penalty against Kaczynski--said “any time you do that, it is one of the hardest decisions that a person can make. And I make it very carefully and I try to consider all the factors.

“In this instance, the matter is currently pending and the matter is currently in trial, and it is just not right for me to comment. It should not be tried in the press. It’s got to be tried in the courtroom.”

Times staff writers Max Vanzi and Jenifer Warren in Sacramento contributed to this report.

* A FORM OF BIGOTRY: Columnist Shawn Hubler writes that attitudes toward mental illness are one of the last bastions of bigotry. B2