Kaczynski May Seek New Trial, Law Professor Says
A University of Virginia law professor says he will not file a motion seeking a new trial for Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, but he expects Kaczynski to do so.
“I met with Mr. Kaczynski to discuss the matter in January and have spent the past several months exploring the factors and researching the law,” Richard J. Bonnie said in a statement Wednesday.
He said he met again with Kaczynski earlier this month and told him that filing the motion “would not be the best avenue for achieving his goals and that I would not be filing the motion.”
In 16 attacks between 1978 and 1995, the Unabomber killed three people, injured 29 others and permanently changed such routine activities as mailing a package and boarding a plane.
Kaczynski pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Sacramento in January 1998 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Kaczynski, who is in a federal prison in Florence, Colo., believes he was unfairly coerced into pleading guilty.
Bonnie said he expects Kaczynski to file a motion for a new trial by May 4, the deadline.
The former Montana recluse who opposed technology could face the death penalty if convicted.
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